The Poetical Works of William Wordsworth — Volume 6 (of 8)

Name: The Poetical Works of William Wordsworth — Volume 6 (of 8)
Author: Wordsworth, William

Wordsworth, William

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

Last of an else extinguished Highland clan,
    Last glimmering spark, was this rude man;
    Sole remnant of a haughty race,                               MS.
]

[Footnote 20: 1820.

    With their perennial hills; but Time
    Brought low a power that could not climb,
    Though, from its well-defended Home,
    When, sword in hand, it chose to roam,
    Its warfare's bourne, its travel's belt,
    Was devastation widely dealt.                                 MS.

    With their perennial hills; but Crime,
    That hastens the decrees of time,
    Brought low a Power, which, when it chose
    To spurn confinement and repose,
    Made devastation widely dealt,
    Its warfare's bourne, its travel's belt.                      MS.
]

[Footnote 21: 1820.

    ... lone ...                                                  MS.
]

[Footnote 22: 1820.

    For he renounc'd ...                                          MS.

    For less than exiled, ...                                     MS.
]

[Footnote 23: 1820.

    Here lodged and fed                                           MS.

    In Being's scale                                              MS.
]

[Footnote 24: 1820.

                                descent;
    Till he--half dreaded, half disdained,
    The title of a BROWNIE gained:
    {He who} to no malicious taint
    {But he}
    Was subject--like the Patmos Saint;
    His ruling case, his chief delight,
    To pen by day                                                 MS.
]

[Footnote 25: 1820.

    Nor wanton                                                    MS.
]

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote F: Compare Wordsworth's _Letter to a Friend of Burns_
(_passim_).--ED.]

[Footnote G: Diodorus mentions this tradition (see his History, book
iii. chap. 4), that the infant Bacchus was carried by Ammon, the Libyan
Jupiter, to a cave on an island near Mount Nysa, from fear of Rhea, and
that he was handed over to the care and the tuition of Nysa, the
daughter of Aristæus. From this mountain the young Bacchus was supposed
to have derived his name, Dionysus.--ED.]


II

COMPOSED AT CORA LINN,

IN SIGHT OF WALLACE'S TOWER

    --How Wallace fought for Scotland, left the name
    Of Wallace to be found, like a wild flower,
    All over his dear Country; left the deeds
    Of Wallace, like a family of ghosts,
    To people the steep rocks and river banks,
    Her natural sanctuaries, with a local soul
    Of independence and stern liberty.                       _MS._[H]

Composed 1814.--Published 1820

[I had seen this celebrated Waterfall twice before; but the feelings to
which it had given birth were not expressed till they recurred in
presence of the object on this occasion.--I.F.]

    Lord of the vale! astounding Flood;
    The dullest leaf in this thick wood
    Quakes--conscious of thy power;
    The caves reply with hollow moan;
    And vibrates, to its central stone,                            5
    Yon time-cemented Tower![I]

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

The Poetical Works of William Wordsworth — Volume 6 (of 8)

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