The Enfolded Prelude: Book Second

Book Second

School-time (Continued)

Thus far, O Friend! have we, though leaving much

Unvisited, endeavour'd endeavoured to retrace

My life through its first years, and measured backThe simple ways in which my childhood walked;

The way I travelI'd when I Those chiefly that first beganled me to the love

To love the woods Of rivers, woods, and fields; the fields. The passion yet

Was in its birth, sustain'd, sustained as might befal,befall

By nourishment that came unsought, unsought; for still,still

From week to week, from month to month, we liv'dlived

A round of tumult: duly tumult. Duly were our games

Prolong'd Prolonged in summer till the day-light fail'd;daylight failed:

No chair remain'd remained before the doors, doors; the bench

And threshold steps were empty; fast asleep

The Labourer, labourer, and the old Man man who had sate,sate

A later lingerer, lingerer; yet the revelry

Continued, Continued and the loud uproar: at last,

When all the ground was dark, and the huge cloudstwinkling stars

Were edged with twinkling stars, Edged the black clouds, home and to bed we went,

With Feverish with weary joints, joints and with a beating mind.minds.

Ah! is there one who ever has been young,

Nor needs a monitory warning voice to tametame the pride

The pride of virtue, Of intellect and of intellect?virtue's self-esteem?

And One is there one, there, though the wisest and the best

Of all mankind, who does covets not sometimes wishat times

For things which Union that cannot be, be; who would not give,give

If so he might, to duty and to truth

The eagerness of infantine desire?

A tranquillizing tranquillising spirit presses now

On my corporeal frame: frame, so wide appears

The vacancy between me and those days,days

Which yet have such self-presence in my mindmind,

That, sometimes, when I think of musing on them, often do I seem

Two consciousnesses, conscious of myself

And of some other Being. A grey Stonerude mass

Of native rock, left midway in the Squaresquare

Of our small market Village, village, was the homegoal

And Or centre of these joys, sports; and when, return'dreturned

After long absence, thither I repair'd,repaired,

I found that it Gone was split, the old grey stone, and gone to buildin its place

A smart Assembly-room that perk'd and flar'd

With wash and rough-cast elbowing usurped the ground

Which That had been ours. But There let the fiddle scream,

And be ye happy! yet, Yet, my Friends! I know

That more than one of you will think with me

Of those soft starry nights, and that old Dame

From whom the stone was nam'd named, who there had satesate,

And watch'd watched her Table table with its huckster's wares

Assiduous, thro' through the length of sixty years.

We ran a boisterous race; course; the year span round

With giddy motion. But the time approach'dapproached

That brought with it a regular desire

For calmer pleasures, when the beauteous winning forms

Of Nature were collaterally attach'dattached

To every scheme of holiday delight,delight

And every boyish sport, less grateful else,else

And languidly pursued.

When summer camecame,

It was the Our pastime of our afternoonswas, on bright half-holidays,

To beat sweep along the plain of Windermere

With rival oars, oars; and the selected bourne

Was now an Island musical with birds

That sang for ever; and ceased not; now a Sister Isle

Beneath the oaks' umbrageous covert, sown

With lillies lilies of the valley, valley like a field;

And now a third small Island Island, where remain'dsurvived

An old stone Table, and In solitude the ruins of a moulder'd Cave,shrine

A Hermit's history. Once to Our Lady dedicate, and served

Daily with chaunted rites. In such a race,race

So ended, disappointment could be none,

Uneasiness, or pain, or jealousy:

We rested in the shade, all pleas'd pleased alike,

Conquer'd Conquered and Conqueror. conqueror. Thus the pride of strength,

And the vain-glory of superior skillskill,

Were interfus'd with objects which subdu'd

And temper'd them, and tempered; thus was gradually produc'dproduced

A quiet independence of the heart.heart;

And to my Friend, Friend who knows me, me I may add,

Unapprehensive Fearless of reproof, blame, that hencehence for future days

Ensu'd Ensued a diffidence and modesty,

And I was taught to feel, perhaps too much,

The self-sufficing power of solitude.Solitude.

No delicate viands sapp'd our bodily strength;Our daily meals were frugal, Sabine fare!

More than we wish'd wished we knew the blessing then

Of vigorous hunger, for our daily mealshunger hence corporeal strength

Were frugal, Sabine fare! and then, Unsapped by delicate viands; for, exclude

A little weekly stipend, and we lived

Through three divisions of the quarter'd quartered year

In pennyless penniless poverty. But now, now to Schoolschool

Return'd, from From the half-yearly holidays,holidays returned,

We came with purses more profusely fill'd,

Allowance which abundantly suffic'dweightier purses, that sufficed

To gratify the palate with repasts

More furnish treats more costly than the Dame of whom I spake,Dame

That ancient Woman, and Of the old grey stone, from her board scant board, supplied.

Hence inroads into distant Vales, and long

Excursions far away among the hills,

Hence rustic dinners on the cool green ground,

Or in the woods, or near by a river side,side

Or by some shady fountain, fountains, while soft airsamong the leaves

Among the leaves Soft airs were stirring, and the mid-day sun

Unfelt, Unfelt shone sweetly brightly round us in our joy.

Nor is my aim neglected, neglected if I tell

How twice sometimes, in the long length of those half-yearshalf-years,

We from our funds, perhaps, with bolder hand

Drew largely, anxious for one day, at least,

To feel the motion of the galloping Steed;

And with the good old Inn-keeper, in truth,

On such occasion sometimes we employ'd

Sly subterfuge; for the intended bound

Of the day's journey was too distant far

For any cautious man, a Structure famed

Beyond its neighbourhood, the antique Walls

Of that large Abbey which within the vale

Of Nightshade, to St. funds drew largely;—proud to curb,

And eager to spur on, the galloping steed;

And with the courteous inn-keeper, whose stud

Supplied our want, we haply might employ

Sly subterfuge, if the adventure's bound

Were distant: some famed temple where of yore

The Druids worshipped, or the antique walls

Of that large abbey, where within the Vale

Of Nightshade, to St. Mary's honour built,

Stands yet, yet a mouldering Pile, pile with fractured Arch,arch,

Belfry, and Images, images, and living Trees,trees;

A holy Scene! along scene! Along the smooth green turf

Our Horses grazed: to horses grazed. To more than inland peacepeace,

Left by the sea west wind passing sweeping overhead

(Though wind of roughest temper) From a tumultuous ocean, trees and towers

May in In that Valley oftentimes sequestered valley may be seen,

Both silent and both motionless alike;

Such is the deep shelter that is there, and such

The safeguard for repose and quietness.

Our steeds remounted, remounted and the summons given,

With whip and spur we by through the Chauntry chauntry flew

In uncouth race, and left the cross-legg'd Knight,cross-legged knight,

And the stone-Abbot, stone-abbot, and that single Wrenwren

Which one day sang so sweetly in the Navenave

Of the old Church, that, church, that though from recent showers

The earth was comfortless, and, touch'd touched by faint

Internal breezes, sobbings of the place,place

And respirations, from the roofless walls

The shuddering ivy dripp'd dripped large drops, yet still,

So sweetly 'mid the gloom the invisible Bird

Sang to itself, that there I could have made

My dwelling-place, and liv'd for ever there

To hear such music. drops—yet still

So sweetly 'mid the gloom the invisible bird

Sang to herself, that there I could have made

My dwelling-place, and lived for ever there

To hear such music. Through the Walls walls we flew

And down the valley, and and, a circuit made

In wantonness of heart, through rough and smooth

We scamper'd homeward. Oh! scampered homewards. Oh, ye Rocks rocks and Streams,streams,

And that still Spirit of the spirit shed from evening air!

Even in this joyous time I sometimes felt

Your presence, when with slacken'd slackened step we breath'dbreathed

Along the sides of the steep hills, or when,when

Lighted by gleams of moonlight from the sea,sea

We beat with thundering hoofs the level sand.

Upon the Eastern Shore of Windermere,Midway on long Winander's eastern shore,

Above Within the crescent of a pleasant Bay,bay,

There stood an Inn, A tavern stood; no homely-featured Shed,house,

Brother of the surrounding Cottages,Primeval like its neighbouring cottages,

But 'twas a splendid place, the door beset

With Chaises, Grooms, chaises, grooms, and Liveries, liveries, and within

Decanters, Glasses, glasses, and the blood-red Wine.wine.

In ancient times, or and ere the Hall was built

On the large Island, island, had this Dwelling dwelling been

More worthy of a Poet's poet's love, a Hut,hut,

Proud of its one own bright fire, fire and sycamore shade.

But though the rhymes were gone which that once inscribed

The threshold, and large golden characterscharacters,

On Spread o'er the blue-frosted Signboard spangled sign-board, had usurp'ddislodged

The place of the old Lion, Lion and usurped his place, in contemptslight

And mockery of the rustic painter's hand,

Yet to this hour the spot to me is dear

With all its foolish pomp. hand—

Yet, to this hour, the spot to me is dear

With all its foolish pomp. The garden lay

Upon a slope surmounted by the a plain

Of a small Bowling-green; bowling-green; beneath us stood

A grove; grove, with gleams of water through the trees

And over the tree-tops; nor did we want

Refreshment, strawberries and mellow cream.

And there, There, while through half an afternoon, afternoon we play'dplayed

On the smooth platform, and the shouts we sentwhether skill prevailed

Or happy blunder triumphed, bursts of glee

Made all the mountains ring. But But, ere the fallnight-fall,

Of night, when When in our pinnace we return'dreturned at leisure

Over the dusky Lake, shadowy lake, and to the beach

Of some small Island steer'd island steered our course with one,

The Minstrel of our troop, the Troop, and left him there,

And row'd rowed off gently, while he blew his flute

Alone upon the rock; Oh! then rock oh, then, the calm

And dead still water lay upon my mind

Even with a weight of pleasure, and the skysky,

Never before so beautiful, sank down

Into my heart, and held me like a dream.dream!

Thus daily were my sympathies enlarged,enlarged, and thus

And thus Daily the common range of visible things

Grew dear to me: already I began

To love the sun, sun; a Boy boy I lov'd loved the sun,

Not as I since have lov'd loved him, as a pledge

And surety of our earthly life, a light

Which while we view we behold and feel we are alive;

But, Nor for this cause, that I had seen him lay

His beauty on the morning hills, had seen

The western mountain touch his setting orb,

In many a thoughtless hour, when, from excess

Of happiness, my blood appear'd bounty to flow

With its own pleasure, and I breath'd with joy.so many worlds.—

But for this cause, that I had seen him lay

His beauty on the morning hills, had seen

The western mountain touch his setting orb,

In many a thoughtless hour, when, from excess

Of happiness, my blood appeared to flow

For its own pleasure, and I breathed with joy.

And And, from like feelings, humble though intense,

To patriotic and domestic love

Analogous, the moon to me was dear;

For I would could dream away my purposes,

Standing to look gaze upon her while she hung

Midway between the hills, as if she knew

No other region; region, but belong'd belonged to thee,

Yea, appertain'd appertained by a peculiar right

To thee and thy grey huts, my darling thou one dear Vale!

Those incidental charms which first attach'dattached

My heart to rural objects, day by day

Grew weaker, and I hasten on to tell

How Nature, intervenient till this time,time

And secondary, now at length was sought

For her own sake. But who shall parcel out

His intellect, intellect by geometric rules,

Split, Split like a province, province into round and square?

Who knows the individual hour in which

His habits were first sown, even as a seed,seed?

Who that shall point, point as with a wand, wand and say,say

'This "This portion of the river of my mind

Came from yon fountain?' fountain?" Thou, my Friend! art one

More deeply read in thy own thoughts; to thee

Science appears but, but what in truth she is,

Not as our glory and our absolute boast,

But as a succedaneum, and a prop

To our infirmity. Thou art no No officious slave

Of Art thou of that false secondary power, by which,power

In weakness, By which we create multiply distinctions, then

Deem that our puny boundaries are things

Which That we perceive, and not which that we have made.

To thee, unblinded by these outward shows,formal arts,

The unity of all has hath been reveal'drevealed,

And thou wilt doubt doubt, with me, me less aptly skill'dskilled

Than many are to range the faculties

In scale and order, class the cabinet

Of their sensations, and, and in voluble phrase,phrase

Run through the history and birth of each,each

As of a single independent thing.

Hard task task, vain hope, to analyse a soul, in which,

Not only general habits and desires,the mind,

But If each most obvious and particular thought,

Not in a mystical and idle sense,

But in the words of reason Reason deeply weigh'd,weighed,

Hath no beginning.

Bless'd Blest the infant Babe,

(For with my best conjectures conjecture I would trace

The progress of our Being) Our Being's earthly progress,) blest the Babe,

Nurs'd Nursed in his Mother's arms, the Babe who sleepssinks to sleep

Upon Rocked on his Mother's breast, who, when his soul

Claims manifest kindred breast; who with an earthly soul,

Doth gather passion from his Mother's eye!

Such feelings pass into his torpid life

Like an awakening breeze, and hence his mind

Even [in the first trial of its powers]

Is prompt and watchful, eager to combine

In one appearance, all the elements

And parts of the same object, else detach'd

And loth to coalesce. Thus, day by day,soul

Subjected to Drinks in the discipline feelings of love,

His organs and recipient faculties

Are quicken'd, are more vigorous, his mind spreads,

Tenacious of the forms which it receives.Mother's eye!

In For him, in one beloved presence, nay and more,

In that most apprehensive habitude

And those sensations which have been deriv'd

From this beloved dear Presence, there exists

A virtue which irradiates and exalts

All objects Objects through all widest intercourse of sense.

No outcast he, bewilder'd bewildered and depress'd;depressed:

Along his infant veins are interfus'dinterfused

The gravitation and the filial bond

Of nature, nature that connect him with the world.

Is there a flower, to which he points with hand

Too weak to gather it, already love

Drawn from love's purest earthly fount for him

Hath beautified that flower; already shades

Of pity cast from inward tenderness

Do fall around him upon aught that bears

Unsightly marks of violence or harm.

Emphatically such a Being lives,

Frail creature as he is, helpless as frail,

An inmate of this active universe;

From nature largely he receives; nor so

Is satisfied, but largely gives again,universe:

For For, feeling has to him imparted strength,power

And powerful in all sentiments That through the growing faculties of grief,

Of exultation, fear, and joy, his mind,sense

Even as Doth like an agent of the one great mind,Mind

Creates, Create, creator and receiver both,

Working but in alliance with the works

Which it beholds.-Such, beholds. Such, verily, is the first

Poetic spirit of our human life;life,

By uniform control of after yearsyears,

In most most, abated or suppress'd, suppressed; in some,

Through every change of growth or and of decay,

Pre-eminent till death.

From early days,

Beginning not long after that first time

In which, a Babe, by intercourse of touch,touch

I held mute dialogues with my Mother's heartheart,

I have endeavour'd endeavoured to display the means

Whereby this infant sensibility,

Great birthright of our Being, being, was in me

Augmented and sustain'd. sustained. Yet is a path

More difficult before me, me; and I fear

That in its broken windings we shall need

The chamois' sinews, and the eagle's wing:

For now a trouble came into my mind

From unknown causes. I was left alone,alone

Seeking the visible world, nor knowing why.

The props of my affections were remov'd,removed,

And yet the building stood, as if sustain'dsustained

By its own spirit! All that I beheld

Was dear to me, dear, and from this cause it came,

That now hence to Nature's finer influxes

My The mind lay open, open to that a more exact

And intimate communion which our hearts

Maintain with the minuter properties

Of objects which already are belov'd,

And of those only. close communion. Many are the our joys

Of youth; In youth, but oh! what happiness to live

When every hour brings palpable access

Of knowledge, when all knowledge is delight,

And sorrow is not there. there! The seasons came,

And every season to my notice broughtwheresoe'er I moved

A store of Unfolded transitory qualitiesqualities,

Which, but for this most watchful power of lovelove,

Had been neglected, neglected; left a register

Of permanent relations, else unknown,unknown.

Hence life, and change, and beauty, solitude

More active, even, active ever than 'best society',"best society"

Society made sweet as solitude

By silent inobtrusive sympathies,

And gentle agitations of the mind

From manifold distinctions, difference

Perceived in things, where where, to the common unwatchful eye,

No difference is; is, and hence, from the same sourcesource,

Sublimer joy; for I would walk alone,

In storm and tempest, or in starlight nights

Beneath Under the quiet Heavens; and, stars, and at that time,time

Have felt whate'er there is of power in sound

To breathe an elevated mood, by form

Or image unprofaned; and I would stand,

If the night blackened with a coming storm,

Beneath some rock, listening to sounds notes that are

The ghostly language of the ancient earth,

Or make their dim abode in distant winds.

Thence did I drink the visionary power.power;

I And deem not profitless those fleeting moods

Of shadowy exultation: not for this,

That they are kindred to our purer mind

And intellectual life; but that the soul,

Remembering how she felt, but what she felt

Remembering not, retains an obscure sense

Of possible sublimity, to which,whereto

With growing faculties she doth aspire,

With faculties still growing, feeling still

That whatsoever point they gain, they stillyet

Have something to pursue.

And not alone,

In grandeur 'Mid gloom and in tumult, but no lessless 'mid fair

In And tranquil scenes, that universal power

And fitness in the latent qualities

And essences of things, by which the mind

Is mov'd by moved with feelings of delight, to me

Came strengthen'd strengthened with a superadded soul,

A virtue not its own. My morning walks

Were early; oft, oft before the hours of Schoolschool

I travelI'd travelled round our little Lake, lake, five miles

Of pleasant wandering, happy wandering. Happy time! more dear

For this, that one was by my side, a FriendFriend,

Then passionately lov'd; loved; with heart how full

Will Would he peruse these lines, this page, perhaps

A blank to other men! for lines! For many years

Have since flow'd flowed in between us; and us, and, our minds,minds

Both silent to each other, at this time

We live as if those hours had never been.

Nor seldom did I lift our cottage latch

Far earlier, and before ere one smoke-wreath had risen

From human dwelling, or the vernal thrush

Was audible, audible; and sate among the hills I satewoods

Alone, Alone upon some jutting eminenceeminence,

At the first hour gleam of morning, dawn-light, when the ValeVale,

Lay quiet Yet slumbering, lay in an utter solitude.

How shall I trace seek the history, origin? where seekfind

The origin of what I Faith in the marvellous things which then have I felt?

Oft in these moments such a holy calm

Did Would overspread my soul, that I forgotbodily eyes

That I had bodily eyes, Were utterly forgotten, and what I saw

Appear'd Appeared like something in myself, a dream,

A prospect in my the mind.

'Twere long to tell

What spring and autumn, what the winter snows,

And what the summer shade, what day and night,

The evening Evening and the morning, what my dreamssleep and waking, thought

And what my waking thoughts supplied, to nurseFrom sources inexhaustible, poured forth

That To feed the spirit of religious love in whichlove

In which I walked with Nature. But let this, at leastthis

Be not forgotten, that I still retain'dretained

My first creative sensibility,sensibility;

That by the regular action of the world

My soul was unsubdu'd. unsubdued. A plastic power

Abode with me, me; a forming hand, at times

Rebellious, acting in a devious mood,mood;

A local spirit of its his own, at war

With general tendency, but but, for the mostmost,

Subservient strictly to the external things

With which it commun'd. communed. An auxiliar light

Came from my mind mind, which on the setting sun

Bestow'd Bestowed new splendor, splendour; the melodious birds,

The gentle fluttering breezes, fountains that ran on,run on

Murmuring so sweetly in themselves, obey'dobeyed

A like dominion; dominion, and the midnight storm

Grew darker in the presence of my eye.eye:

Hence by my obeisance, my devotion hence,

And hence my transport.

Nor should this, perchance,

Pass unrecorded, that I still have lov'dhad loved

The exercise and produce of a toiltoil,

Than analytic industry to me

More pleasing, and whose character I deem

Is more poetic as resembling more

Creative agency. I mean to The song would speak

Of that interminable building rear'dreared

By observation of affinities

In objects where no brotherhood exists

To common passive minds. My seventeenth year was come

And, whether from this habit, habit rooted now

So deeply in my mind, or from excess

Of In the great social principle of life,life

Coercing all things into sympathy,

To unorganic natures I transferr'dwere transferred

My own enjoyments, or, enjoyments; or the power of truth

Coming in revelation, I convers'ddid converse

With things that really are, are; I, at this timetime,

Saw blessings spread around me like a sea.

Thus did my while the days pass on, flew by, and now at lengthyears passed on,

From Nature and her overflowing soulsoul,

I had receiv'd received so much much, that all my thoughts

Were steep'd steeped in feeling; I was only then

Contented Contented, when with bliss ineffable

I felt the sentiment of Being spread

O'er all that moves, moves and all that seemeth still,still;

O'er all, all that, lost beyond the reach of thought

And human knowledge, to the human eye

Invisible, yet liveth to the heart,heart;

O'er all that leaps, leaps and runs, and shouts, shouts and sings,

Or beats the gladsome air, air; o'er all that glides

Beneath the wave, yea, in the wave itselfitself,

And mighty depth of waters. Wonder not

If such my transports were; for in all thingshigh the transport, great the joy I felt,

I saw one life, Communing in this sort through earth and felt that heaven

With every form of creature, as it was joy.looked

Towards the Uncreated with a countenance

Of adoration, with an eye of love.

One song they sang, and it was audible,

Most audible then audible, then, when the fleshly ear,

O'ercome by grosser humblest prelude of that strain,strain

Forgot its her functions, and slept undisturb'd.undisturbed.

If this be error, and another faith

Find easier access to the pious mind,

Yet were I grossly destitute of all

Those human sentiments which that make this earth

So dear, if I should fail, fail with grateful voice

To speak of you, Ye Mountains ye mountains, and Ye Lakes,ye lakes

And sounding Cataracts! Ye Mists cataracts, ye mists and Windswinds

That dwell among the hills where I was born.

If, If in my youth, youth I have been pure in heart,

If, mingling with the world, I am content

With my own modest pleasures, and have liv'd,lived
With God and Nature communing,