The Poetical Works of William Wordsworth — Volume 2 eBook

This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 515 pages of information about The Poetical Works of William Wordsworth — Volume 2.
  On which it grew, or to be left alone
  To its own beauty.  Many such there are,
  Fair ferns and flowers, and chiefly that tall fern, [3]
  So stately, of the queen Osmunda named;
  Plant lovelier, in its own retired abode 35
  On Grasmere’s beach, than Naiad by the side
  Of Grecian brook, or Lady of the Mere,
  Sole-sitting by the shores of old romance. 
—­So fared we that bright [4] morning:  from the fields,
  Meanwhile, a noise was heard, the busy mirth 40
  Of reapers, men and women, boys and girls. 
  Delighted much to listen [5] to those sounds,
  And feeding thus our fancies, we advanced [6]
  Along the indented shore; when suddenly,
  Through a thin veil of glittering haze was seen [7] 45
  Before us, on a point of jutting land,
  The tall and upright figure of a Man
  Attired in peasant’s garb, who stood alone,
  Angling beside the margin of the lake. [8]
  “Improvident and reckless,” we exclaimed, 50
  “The Man must be, who thus can lose a day [9]
  Of the mid harvest, when the labourer’s hire
  Is ample, and some little might be stored
  Wherewith to cheer him in the winter time.” 
  Thus talking of that Peasant, we approached 55
  Close to the spot where with his rod and line
  He stood alone; whereat he turned his head
  To greet us—­and we saw a Man worn down
  By sickness, gaunt and lean, with sunken cheeks
  And wasted limbs, his legs so long and lean 60
  That for my single self I looked at them,
  Forgetful of the body they sustained.—­
  Too weak to labour in the harvest field,
  The Man was using his best skill to gain
  A pittance from the dead unfeeling lake 65
  That knew not of his wants.  I will not say
  What thoughts immediately were ours, nor how
  The happy idleness of that sweet morn,
  With all its lovely images, was changed
  To serious musing and to self-reproach. 70
  Nor did we fail to see within ourselves
  What need there is to be reserved in speech,
  And temper all our thoughts with charity. 
—­Therefore, unwilling to forget that day,
  My Friend, Myself, and She who then received 75
  The same admonishment, have called the place
  By a memorial name, uncouth indeed
  As e’er by mariner was given to bay
  Or foreland, on a new-discovered coast;
  And POINT RASH-JUDGMENT is the name it bears. 80

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VARIANTS ON THE TEXT

[Variant 1: 

1815. (Compressing five lines into three.)

... thistle’s beard, Which, seeming lifeless half, and half impell’d By some internal feeling, skimm’d along Close to the surface of the lake that lay Asleep in a dead calm, ran closely on Along the dead calm lake, now here, now there, 1800.]

[Variant 2: 

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The Poetical Works of William Wordsworth — Volume 2 from Project Gutenberg. Public domain.