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William
Wordsworth
Wordsworth
was one of the founders and principal figures of the Romantic poetic
movement in England,
and is one of the major poets in the history of
English literature. His focus on the greatness
of the human being
and the beauty of our relationship with Nature are part of the wonder of
Wordsworth's poetry. |
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thinkers home
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Please note: As
several of the poems we'd like to include here are very long, we'll be
adding to this page as time goes on.
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To character and
success, two things, contradictory as they may seem,
must go
together--humble dependence and courageous independence;
humble
dependence on God and courageous reliance on self. |
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My
heart leaps up when I behold
A rainbow in the sky:
So it was when my life began;
So is it now I am a man;
So be it when I shall grow old,
Or let me die!
The child is the father of the Man;
And I could wish my days to be
Bound each to each by natural piety. |
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| Composed
upon Westminster Bridge, Sept. 3, 1802
Earth has
not anything to show more fair:
Dull would he be of soul who could pass by
A sight so touching in its majesty:
This City now doth, like a garment, wear
The beauty of the morning; silent, bare,
Ships, towers, domes, theatres, and temples lie
Open unto the fields, and to the sky;
All bright and glittering in the smokeless air.
Never did sun more beautifully steep
In his first splendour, valley, rock, or hill;
Ne'er saw I, never felt, a calm so deep!
The river glideth at his own sweet will:
Dear God! the very houses seem asleep;
And all that mighty heart is lying still! |
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I
wandered lonely as a cloud
That floats on high o'er vales and hills,
When all at once I saw a crowd,
A host, of golden daffodils;
Beside the lake, beneath the trees,
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.
Continuous
as the stars that shine
And twinkle on the milky way,
They stretched in never-ending line
Along the margin of a bay:
Ten thousand saw I at a glance,
Tossing their heads in sprightly dance. |
The
waves beside them danced; but they
Out-did the sparkling waves in glee:
A poet could not but be gay,
In such a jocund company:
I gazed--and gazed--but little thought
What wealth the show to me had brought:
For
oft, when on my couch I lie
In vacant or in pensive mood,
They flash upon that inward eye
Which is the bliss of solitude;
And then my heart with pleasure fills,
And dances with the daffodils. |
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| Lines
Written in Early Spring |
I
heard a thousand blended notes,
While in a grove I sate reclined,
In that sweet mood when pleasant thoughts
Bring sad thoughts to the mind.
To her
fair works did Nature link
The human soul that through me ran;
And much it grieved my heart to think
What man has made of man.
Through
primrose tufts, in that green bower,
The periwinkly trailed its wreaths;
And 't is my faith that every flower
Enjoys the air it breathes. |
The
birds around me hopped and played,
Their thoughts I cannot measure:--
But the least motion which they made
It seemed a thrill of pleasure.
The
budding twigs spread out their fan,
To catch the breezy air;
And I must think, do all I can,
That there was pleasure there.
If this
belief from heaven be sent,
If such be Nature's holy plan,
Have I not reason to lament
What man has made of man? |
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The
world is too much with us; late and soon,
Getting and spending, we lay waste our powers:
Little we see in Nature that is ours;
We have given our hearts away, a sordid boon!
The Sea that bares her bosom to the moon;
The winds that will be howling at all hours,
And are up-gathered now like sleeping flowers;
For this, for everything, we are out of tune;
It moves us not. |
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