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

Vain pleasures of luxurious life,                            105
    For ever with yourselves at strife;
    Through town and country both deranged
    By affectations interchanged,
    And all the perishable gauds
    That heaven-deserted man applauds;                           110
    When will your hapless patrons learn
    To watch and ponder--to discern
    The freshness, the everlasting youth,[32]
    Of admiration sprung from truth;
    From beauty infinitely growing                               115
    Upon a mind with love o'erflowing--
    To sound the depths of every Art
    That seeks its wisdom through the heart?

    Thus (where the intrusive Pile, ill-graced
    With baubles of theatric taste,                              120
    O'erlooks the torrent breathing showers
    On motley bands of alien flowers
    In stiff confusion set or sown,
    Till Nature cannot find her own,
    Or keep a remnant of the sod                                 125
    Which Caledonian Heroes trod)
    I mused; and, thirsting for redress,
    Recoiled into the wilderness.

VARIANTS:

[Footnote 27: The preceding four lines were added in the edition of
1837.]

[Footnote 28: 1827.

    Through all thy numberless transitions                        C.
    Throughout thy infinite transitions                           C.
]

[Footnote 29: 1832.

    Else surely had ...                                         1827.
]

[Footnote 30: 1832.

    Awakened ...                                                1827.
]

[Footnote 31: 1837.

    ... such array
    As less ...                                                 1827.

    And so inspired in shape display
    That less ...                                                 C.
]

[Footnote 32: 1837.

    ... the eternal youth,                                      1827.
]

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote L: See the _Recollections of a Tour made in Scotland_, 1803,
by Dorothy Wordsworth, p. 210.--ED.]

[Footnote M: On the banks of the River Nid, near Knaresborough.--W. W.
1827.]

[Footnote N: "The cliffs overhanging the Nid have been hollowed out into
numerous cavities, some of which serve as dwellings, walled in front,
and some having chimneys carried out at the tops; sometimes with windows
and doors let into the rock itself. The most remarkable of these is _St.
Robert's Chapel_, scooped out, and inhabited (it is said) by the same
St. Robert, whose cave is farther down the river. An altar has been cut
out of the rock, and one or two rude figures carved within this
so-called chapel. The figure of an armed man with his sword in his hand
is sculptured outside, as if guarding the entrance."--Murray's
_Yorkshire_, p. 240 (edition 1867).--ED.]

[Footnote O: Fountains Abbey, near Studley Royal, in Yorkshire.--ED.]

[Footnote P: The statue of Amenophis in the vicinity of Thebes--called
by the Greeks the statue of Memnon--was fabled to give forth a musical
strain, when touched by the first ray of sunrise.--ED.]

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

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