Print
Word
PDF There, by the Sheep-fold, sometimes was
he seen
Sitting alone, or with his faithful Dog,
[49] 475
Then old, beside him, lying at his feet.
The length of full seven years, from time
to time,
He at the building of this Sheep-fold
wrought,
And left the work unfinished when he died.
Three years, or little more, did Isabel
480
Survive her Husband: at her death
the estate
Was sold, and went into a stranger’s
hand.
The Cottage which was named the EVENING
STAR
Is gone—the ploughshare has
been through the ground
On which it stood; great changes have
been wrought 485
In all the neighbourhood:—yet
the oak is left
That grew beside their door; and the remains
Of the unfinished Sheep-fold may be seen
Beside the boisterous brook of Green-head
Ghyll.
* * * * *
VARIANTS ON THE TEXT
[Variant 1:
1827.
... beside ... 1800.]
[Variant 2:
1827.
No habitation there is seen; but such
As journey thither ... 1800.]
[Variant 3:
1827.
There is ... 1800.]
[Variant 4:
1836.
And to that place a story appertains,
Which, though it be ungarnish’d
with events,
Is not unfit, ... 1800.]
[Variant 5:
1827.
... It was the first,
The earliest of those tales ...
1800.]
[Variant 6:
1827.
... he had learn’d ... 1800.]
[Variant 7:
1836.
... the hills, which he so oft
Had climb’d with vigorous steps;
... 1800.]
[Variant 8:
1832.
... linking to such acts, So grateful in themselves, the certainty Of honourable gains; these fields, these hills Which were his living Being, even more Than his own Blood—what could they less? had laid 1800.
... gain ... 1805.]
[Variant 9:
1815.
He had not passed his days in singleness.
He had a Wife, a comely Matron, old
1800.]
[Variant 10:
1836.
... their ... 1800.]
[Variant 11:
1836.
... their ... 1800.]
[Variant 12:
1836.
... their ... 1800.]
[Variant 13:
1827.
Which ... 1800.]
[Variant 14:
1836.
Did with a huge projection overbrow 1800.]
[Variant 15:
1827.
... was in his ... 1800.]
[Variant 16:
1836.
... while late ... 1800.]
