The Poetical Works of William Wordsworth — Volume 4 (of 8)

Name: The Poetical Works of William Wordsworth — Volume 4 (of 8)
Author: Wordsworth, William

Wordsworth, William

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

I learn ...                                        1809.

[3] 1837.

      ... sixty ...                                      1809.


FOOTNOTES:

[A] In _The Friend_, December 28.--ED.




                     V

    "TRUE IS IT THAT AMBROSIO SALINERO"

              Published 1837


    True is it that Ambrosio Salinero
    With an untoward fate was long involved
    In odious litigation; and full long,
    Fate harder still! had he to endure assaults
    Of racking malady. And true it is                            5
    That not the less a frank courageous heart
    And buoyant spirit triumphed over pain;
    And he was strong to follow in the steps
    Of the fair Muses. Not a covert path
    Leads to the dear Parnassian forest's shade,                10
    That might from him be hidden; not a track
    Mounts to pellucid Hippocrene, but he
    Had traced its windings.--This Savona knows,
    Yet no sepulchral honours to her Son
    She paid, for in our age the heart is ruled                 15
    Only by gold. And now a simple stone
    Inscribed with this memorial here is raised
    By his bereft, his lonely, Chiabrera.
    Think not, O Passenger! who read'st the lines
    That an exceeding love hath dazzled me;                     20
    No--he was One whose memory ought to spread
    Where'er Permessus bears an honoured name,
    And live as long as its pure stream shall flow.[A]


FOOTNOTES:

[A] Compare S. T. Coleridge's poem, _A Tombless Epitaph_.--ED.




                     VI

    "DESTINED TO WAR FROM VERY INFANCY"

             Published 1809[A]


    Destined to war from very infancy
    Was I, Roberto Dati, and I took
    In Malta the white symbol of the Cross:
    Nor in life's vigorous season did I shun
    Hazard or toil; among the sands was seen                     5
    Of Libya; and not seldom, on the banks
    Of wide Hungarian Danube, 'twas my lot
    To hear the sanguinary trumpet sounded.
    So lived I, and repined not at such fate:
    This only grieves me, for it seems a wrong,                 10
    That stripped of arms I to my end am brought
    On the soft down of my paternal home.
    Yet haply Arno shall be spared all cause
    To blush for me. Thou, loiter not nor halt
    In thy appointed way, and bear in mind                      15
    How fleeting and how frail is human life!


FOOTNOTES:

[A] In _The Friend_, December 28.--ED.




                         VII

    "O FLOWER OF ALL THAT SPRINGS FROM GENTLE BLOOD"

                   Published 1837

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

Opening the text

The Poetical Works of William Wordsworth — Volume 4 (of 8)Wordsworth, William

General

The Poetical Works of William Wordsworth — Volume 4 (of 8)

Wordsworth, William

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

I learn ...                                        1809.

[3] 1837.

      ... sixty ...                                      1809.


FOOTNOTES:

[A] In _The Friend_, December 28.--ED.




                     V

    "TRUE IS IT THAT AMBROSIO SALINERO"

              Published 1837


    True is it that Ambrosio Salinero
    With an untoward fate was long involved
    In odious litigation; and full long,
    Fate harder still! had he to endure assaults
    Of racking malady. And true it is                            5
    That not the less a frank courageous heart
    And buoyant spirit triumphed over pain;
    And he was strong to follow in the steps
    Of the fair Muses. Not a covert path
    Leads to the dear Parnassian forest's shade,                10
    That might from him be hidden; not a track
    Mounts to pellucid Hippocrene, but he
    Had traced its windings.--This Savona knows,
    Yet no sepulchral honours to her Son
    She paid, for in our age the heart is ruled                 15
    Only by gold. And now a simple stone
    Inscribed with this memorial here is raised
    By his bereft, his lonely, Chiabrera.
    Think not, O Passenger! who read'st the lines
    That an exceeding love hath dazzled me;                     20
    No--he was One whose memory ought to spread
    Where'er Permessus bears an honoured name,
    And live as long as its pure stream shall flow.[A]


FOOTNOTES:

[A] Compare S. T. Coleridge's poem, _A Tombless Epitaph_.--ED.




                     VI

    "DESTINED TO WAR FROM VERY INFANCY"

             Published 1809[A]


    Destined to war from very infancy
    Was I, Roberto Dati, and I took
    In Malta the white symbol of the Cross:
    Nor in life's vigorous season did I shun
    Hazard or toil; among the sands was seen                     5
    Of Libya; and not seldom, on the banks
    Of wide Hungarian Danube, 'twas my lot
    To hear the sanguinary trumpet sounded.
    So lived I, and repined not at such fate:
    This only grieves me, for it seems a wrong,                 10
    That stripped of arms I to my end am brought
    On the soft down of my paternal home.
    Yet haply Arno shall be spared all cause
    To blush for me. Thou, loiter not nor halt
    In thy appointed way, and bear in mind                      15
    How fleeting and how frail is human life!


FOOTNOTES:

[A] In _The Friend_, December 28.--ED.




                         VII

    "O FLOWER OF ALL THAT SPRINGS FROM GENTLE BLOOD"

                   Published 1837

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

The Poetical Works of William Wordsworth — Volume 4 (of 8)

The Poetical Works of William Wordsworth — Volume 4 (of 8)

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