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

The power of Armies is a visible thing,[A]
    Formal, and circumscribed in time and space;[1]
    But who the limits of that power shall trace[2]
    Which a brave People into light can bring
    Or hide, at will,--for freedom combating                     5
    By just revenge inflamed? No foot may chase,[3]
    No eye can follow, to a fatal[4] place
    That power, that spirit, whether on the wing
    Like the strong wind, or sleeping like the wind
    Within its awful caves.--From year to year                  10
    Springs this indigenous produce far and near;
    No craft this subtle element can bind,
    Rising like water from the soil, to find
    In every nook a lip that it may cheer.


VARIANTS:

[1] 1827.

      ... and place;                                     1815.

[2] 1827.

      ... can trace                                      1815.

[3] 1827.

      ... can chase,                                     1815.

[4] The word "fatal" was _italicised_ in the editions of 1815-43.


FOOTNOTES:

[A] Compare Aubrey de Vere's _Picturesque Sketches of Greece and
Turkey_, vol. i. chap. viii. p. 204.--ED.




"HERE PAUSE: THE POET CLAIMS AT LEAST THIS PRAISE"

Composed 1811.--Published 1815


Included among the "Sonnets dedicated to Liberty." In 1815 it was called
_Conclusion_, as ending this series of poems in that edition. In all
editions it was headed by the date _1811_.--ED.


    Here pause: the poet claims at least this praise,
    That virtuous Liberty hath been the scope
    Of his pure song, which did not shrink from hope
    In the worst moment of these evil days;
    From hope, the paramount _duty_ that Heaven lays,            5
    For its own honour, on man's suffering heart.[A]
    Never may from our souls one truth depart--
    That an accursed[1] thing it is to gaze
    On prosperous tyrants with a dazzled eye;
    Nor--touched with due abhorrence of _their_ guilt           10
    For whose dire ends tears flow, and blood is spilt,
    And justice labours in extremity--
    Forget thy weakness, upon which is built,
    O wretched man, the throne of tyranny!


VARIANTS:

[1] The word "accursed" was _italicised_ in the editions of 1815-43.


FOOTNOTES:

[A] Compare _The Excursion_ (book iv. l. 763)--

      We live by Admiration, Hope, and Love,

and S. T. C. in _The Friend_ (vol. i. p. 172). "What an awful duty, what
a nurse of all others, the fairest virtues, does not Hope become! We are
bad ourselves, because we despair of the goodness of others."--ED.




EPISTLE TO SIR GEORGE HOWLAND BEAUMONT, BART.

FROM THE SOUTH-WEST COAST OF CUMBERLAND.--1811

Composed 1811.--Published 1842

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

The power of Armies is a visible thing,[A]
    Formal, and circumscribed in time and space;[1]
    But who the limits of that power shall trace[2]
    Which a brave People into light can bring
    Or hide, at will,--for freedom combating                     5
    By just revenge inflamed? No foot may chase,[3]
    No eye can follow, to a fatal[4] place
    That power, that spirit, whether on the wing
    Like the strong wind, or sleeping like the wind
    Within its awful caves.--From year to year                  10
    Springs this indigenous produce far and near;
    No craft this subtle element can bind,
    Rising like water from the soil, to find
    In every nook a lip that it may cheer.


VARIANTS:

[1] 1827.

      ... and place;                                     1815.

[2] 1827.

      ... can trace                                      1815.

[3] 1827.

      ... can chase,                                     1815.

[4] The word "fatal" was _italicised_ in the editions of 1815-43.


FOOTNOTES:

[A] Compare Aubrey de Vere's _Picturesque Sketches of Greece and
Turkey_, vol. i. chap. viii. p. 204.--ED.




"HERE PAUSE: THE POET CLAIMS AT LEAST THIS PRAISE"

Composed 1811.--Published 1815


Included among the "Sonnets dedicated to Liberty." In 1815 it was called
_Conclusion_, as ending this series of poems in that edition. In all
editions it was headed by the date _1811_.--ED.


    Here pause: the poet claims at least this praise,
    That virtuous Liberty hath been the scope
    Of his pure song, which did not shrink from hope
    In the worst moment of these evil days;
    From hope, the paramount _duty_ that Heaven lays,            5
    For its own honour, on man's suffering heart.[A]
    Never may from our souls one truth depart--
    That an accursed[1] thing it is to gaze
    On prosperous tyrants with a dazzled eye;
    Nor--touched with due abhorrence of _their_ guilt           10
    For whose dire ends tears flow, and blood is spilt,
    And justice labours in extremity--
    Forget thy weakness, upon which is built,
    O wretched man, the throne of tyranny!


VARIANTS:

[1] The word "accursed" was _italicised_ in the editions of 1815-43.


FOOTNOTES:

[A] Compare _The Excursion_ (book iv. l. 763)--

      We live by Admiration, Hope, and Love,

and S. T. C. in _The Friend_ (vol. i. p. 172). "What an awful duty, what
a nurse of all others, the fairest virtues, does not Hope become! We are
bad ourselves, because we despair of the goodness of others."--ED.




EPISTLE TO SIR GEORGE HOWLAND BEAUMONT, BART.

FROM THE SOUTH-WEST COAST OF CUMBERLAND.--1811

Composed 1811.--Published 1842

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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