But how could I forget thee? Through what power,
Even for the least division of an hour,
Have I been so beguiled as to be blind
To my most grievous loss!?That thought's return
10 Was the worst pang that sorrow ever bore,
Save one, one only, when I stood forlorn,
Knowing my heart's best treasure was no more;
That neither present time, nor years unborn
Could to my sight that heavenly face restore.
1813-14 1815
Mutability1
From low to high doth dissolution climb,
And sink from high to low, along a scale
Of awful? notes, whose concord shall not fail; awe-inspiring
A musical but melancholy chime,
5 Which they can hear who meddle not with crime,
Nor avarice, nor over-anxious care.
Truth fails not; but her outward forms that bear
The longest date do melt like frosty rime,
That in the morning whitened hill and plain
10 And is no more; drop like the tower sublime
Of yesterday, which royally did wear
His crown of weeds, but could not even sustain
Some casual shout that broke the silent air,
Or the unimaginable touch of Time.
1821 1822
Steamboats, Viaducts, and Railways2
Motions and Means, on land and sea at war
With old poetic feeling, not for this,
9. This was in fact suggested by my daughter Church of England. Catherine, long after her death [Wordsworth's 2. In late middle age Wordsworth demonstrates,
note], Catherine Wordsworth died June 4, 1812, as he had predicted in the Preface to Lyrical Bal
at the age of four. lads, that the poet will assimilate to his subject
1. This late sonnet was included in an otherwise matter the 'material revolution' produced by scirather uninspired sequence, Ecclesiastical Sonnets, ence.
dealing with the history and ceremonies of the
.
EXTEMPORE EFFUSION UPON THE DEATH OF JAMES HOGG / 32 1
Shall ye, by Poets even, be judged amiss!
Nor shall your presence, howsoe'er it mar
The loveliness of Nature, prove a bar
To the Mind's gaining that prophetic sense
Of future change, that point of vision, whence
May be discovered what in soul ye are.
In spite of all that beauty may disown
io In your harsh features, Nature doth embrace
Her lawful offspring in Man's art: and Time,
Pleased with your triumphs o'er his brother Space,
Accepts from your bold hands the proffered crown
Of hope, and smiles on you with cheer sublime.
