The Poetical Works of William Wordsworth — Volume 3 (of 8)

Name: The Poetical Works of William Wordsworth — Volume 3 (of 8)
Author: Wordsworth, William

Wordsworth, William

English poetry -- 18th century; English poetry -- 19th century

'Yes, I, and all about me here,
  Through all the changes of the year,
  Had seen him through the mountains go,
  In pomp of mist or pomp of snow,
  Majestically huge and slow:
  Or, with a milder grace adorning
  The landscape of a summer's morning;
  While Grasmere smoothed her liquid plain
  The moving image to detain;
  And mighty Fairfield, with a chime
  Of echoes, to his march kept time;
  When little other business stirred,
  And little other sound was heard;
  In that delicious hour of balm,
  Stillness, solitude, and calm,
  While yet the valley is arrayed,
  On this side with a sober shade;
  On that is prodigally bright--
  Crag, lawn, and wood--with rosy light.'

From Dunmail-raise the Waggoner descends to Wytheburn. Externally,

  '... Wytheburn's modest House of prayer,
  As lowly as the lowliest dwelling,'

remains very much as it was in 1805; but the primitive simplicity and
"lowliness" of the chapel was changed by the addition a few years ago of
an apse, by the removal of some of the old rafters, and by the reseating
of the pews.

The Cherry Tree Tavern, where "the village Merry-night" was being
celebrated, still stands on the eastern or Helvellyn side of the road.
It is now a farm-house; but it will be regarded with interest from the
description of the rustic dance, which recalls ('longo intervallo') 'The
Jolly Beggars' of Burns. After two hours' delay at the Cherry Tree, the
Waggoner and Sailor "coast the silent lake" of Thirlmere, and pass the
Rock of Names.

This rock was, until lately, one of the most interesting memorials of
Wordsworth and his friends that survived in the Lake District; but the
vale of Thirlmere is now a Manchester water-tank, and the place which
knew the Rock of Names now knows it no more. It was a sort of trysting
place of the poets of Grasmere and Keswick--being nearly half-way
between the two places--and there, Wordsworth, Coleridge, and other
members of their households often met. When Coleridge left Grasmere for
Keswick, the Wordsworths usually accompanied him as far as this rock;
and they often met him there on his way over from Keswick to Grasmere.
Compare the Hon. Mr. Justice Coleridge's Reminiscences. ('Memoirs of
Wordsworth,' vol. ii. p. 310.)

The rock was on the right hand of the road, a little way past Waterhead,
at the southern end of Thirlmere; and on it were cut the letters,

  W. W.
  M. H.
  D. W.
  S. T. C.
  J. W.
  S. H.

Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.

Opening the text

The Poetical Works of William Wordsworth — Volume 3 (of 8)Wordsworth, William

General

The Poetical Works of William Wordsworth — Volume 3 (of 8)

Wordsworth, William

English poetry -- 18th century; English poetry -- 19th century

'Yes, I, and all about me here,
  Through all the changes of the year,
  Had seen him through the mountains go,
  In pomp of mist or pomp of snow,
  Majestically huge and slow:
  Or, with a milder grace adorning
  The landscape of a summer's morning;
  While Grasmere smoothed her liquid plain
  The moving image to detain;
  And mighty Fairfield, with a chime
  Of echoes, to his march kept time;
  When little other business stirred,
  And little other sound was heard;
  In that delicious hour of balm,
  Stillness, solitude, and calm,
  While yet the valley is arrayed,
  On this side with a sober shade;
  On that is prodigally bright--
  Crag, lawn, and wood--with rosy light.'

From Dunmail-raise the Waggoner descends to Wytheburn. Externally,

  '... Wytheburn's modest House of prayer,
  As lowly as the lowliest dwelling,'

remains very much as it was in 1805; but the primitive simplicity and
"lowliness" of the chapel was changed by the addition a few years ago of
an apse, by the removal of some of the old rafters, and by the reseating
of the pews.

The Cherry Tree Tavern, where "the village Merry-night" was being
celebrated, still stands on the eastern or Helvellyn side of the road.
It is now a farm-house; but it will be regarded with interest from the
description of the rustic dance, which recalls ('longo intervallo') 'The
Jolly Beggars' of Burns. After two hours' delay at the Cherry Tree, the
Waggoner and Sailor "coast the silent lake" of Thirlmere, and pass the
Rock of Names.

This rock was, until lately, one of the most interesting memorials of
Wordsworth and his friends that survived in the Lake District; but the
vale of Thirlmere is now a Manchester water-tank, and the place which
knew the Rock of Names now knows it no more. It was a sort of trysting
place of the poets of Grasmere and Keswick--being nearly half-way
between the two places--and there, Wordsworth, Coleridge, and other
members of their households often met. When Coleridge left Grasmere for
Keswick, the Wordsworths usually accompanied him as far as this rock;
and they often met him there on his way over from Keswick to Grasmere.
Compare the Hon. Mr. Justice Coleridge's Reminiscences. ('Memoirs of
Wordsworth,' vol. ii. p. 310.)

The rock was on the right hand of the road, a little way past Waterhead,
at the southern end of Thirlmere; and on it were cut the letters,

  W. W.
  M. H.
  D. W.
  S. T. C.
  J. W.
  S. H.

Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.

The Poetical Works of William Wordsworth — Volume 3 (of 8)

The Poetical Works of William Wordsworth — Volume 3 (of 8)

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