Composed 1799.--Published 1800
[Written in Germany.--I.F.]
Included among the "Poems of the Imagination." [A]--Ed.
A slumber did my spirit seal;
I had no human fears:
She seemed a thing that could not feel
The touch of earthly years.
No motion has she now, no force;
She neither hears nor sees;
Rolled round in earth's diurnal course,
With rocks, and stones, and trees. [B]
* * * * *
VARIANTS ON THE TEXT
[Footnote A: It was one of the "Lucy" Poems. In his instructions to the printer in 1807, Wordsworth told him to insert "I travelled among unknown men" after "A slumber did my spirit seal."--Ed.]
[Footnote B: Compare Suckling's 'Fragmenta Aurea' (The Tragedy of Brennoralt), p. 170, edition 1658.
Heavens! shall this fresh ornament of the world,
These precious love-lines, pass with other common things,
Amongst the wastes of time? What pity 'twere.
Ed.]
* * * * *
YOU ARE READING
THE POETICAL WORKS OF WILLIAM WORDSWORTH - VOL. 2 (Completed)
ClassicsThe poetical works of William Wordsworth, edited by William Knight.
