The Poetical Works of William Wordsworth — Volume 5 (of 8)Wordsworth, William
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The Poetical Works of William Wordsworth — Volume 5 (of 8)
Wordsworth, William
English poetry -- 18th century; English poetry -- 19th century
"And whence that tribute? wherefore these regards?[GY]
Not from the naked _Heart_ alone of Man
(Though claiming high[507] distinction upon earth 980
As the sole spring and fountain-head of tears,
His own peculiar utterance for distress
Or gladness)--No," the philosophic Priest
Continued, "'tis not in the vital seat
Of feeling to produce them, without aid 985
From the pure soul, the soul sublime and pure;
With her two faculties of eye and ear,
The one by which a creature, whom his sins
Have rendered prone, can upward[508] look to heaven;
The other that empowers him to perceive 990
The voice of Deity, on height and plain,
Whispering those truths in stillness, which the Word,
To the four quarters of the winds, proclaims.
Not without such assistance could the use
Of these benign observances prevail: 995
Thus are they born, thus fostered, thus[509] maintained;
And by the care prospective of our wise
Forefathers, who, to guard against the shocks
The fluctuation and decay of things,
Embodied and established these high truths 1000
In solemn institutions:--men convinced
That life is love and immortality,
The being one, and one the element.
There lies the channel, and original bed,
From the beginning, hollowed out and scooped 1005
For Man's affections--else betrayed and lost,
And swallowed up 'mid deserts infinite!
This is the genuine course, the aim, and end
Of prescient reason; all conclusions else
Are abject, vain, presumptuous, and perverse. 1010
The faith partaking of those holy times,
Life, I repeat, is energy of love
Divine or human; exercised in pain,
In strife, in tribulation; and ordained,
If so approved and sanctified, to pass, 1015
Through shades and silent rest, to endless joy."[GZ]
VARIANTS:
[Footnote 417: 1836.
_Sight of a large and populous Vale--Solitary consents to go
forward--Vale described_-- 1814.
]
[Footnote 418: 1836.
_The Church-yard_-- 1814.
]
[Footnote 419: _Apology for the Rite_--
First inserted in the edition of 1836.]
[Footnote 420: 1836.
_What sensations they excite_-- 1814.
]
[Footnote 421: 1827.
And guardian rocks!--With unreverted eyes
I cannot pass thy bounds, attractive Seat! 1814.
]
[Footnote 422:
Open, to ... MS.
]
[Footnote 423: 1836.
Upon the side
Of that brown ridge, sole outlet of the Vale,
Lingering 1814.
Of that brown Slope, ... 1827.
]
[Footnote 424: 1836.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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