Nutting
Nutting
Original Text
William Wordsworth and S. T. Coleridge, Lyrical Ballads, 2nd edn. (London: Longman, 1800). No. 5, 1 (c.1,2), 2(c.1) (Victoria College Library, Toronto).
2(I speak of one from many singled out)
3One of those heavenly days that cannot die;
4When, in the eagerness of boyish hope,
5I left our cottage-threshold, sallying forth
6With a huge wallet o'er my shoulders slung,
7A nutting-crook in hand; and turned my steps
8Tow'rd some far-distant wood, a Figure quaint,
9Tricked out in proud disguise of cast-off weeds
10Which for that service had been husbanded,
12Motley accoutrement, of power to smile
13At thorns, and brakes, and brambles,--and, in truth,
14More ragged than need was! O'er pathless rocks,
15Through beds of matted fern, and tangled thickets,
16Forcing my way, I came to one dear nook
17Unvisited, where not a broken bough
18Drooped with its withered leaves, ungracious sign
19Of devastation; but the hazels rose
20Tall and erect, with tempting clusters hung,
21A virgin scene!--A little while I stood,
22Breathing with such suppression of the heart
23As joy delights in; and, with wise restraint
24Voluptuous, fearless of a rival, eyed
25The banquet;--or beneath the trees I sate
26Among the flowers, and with the flowers I played;
27A temper known to those, who, after long
28And weary expectation, have been blest
29With sudden happiness beyond all hope.
30Perhaps it was a bower beneath whose leaves
31The violets of five seasons re-appear
32And fade, unseen by any human eye;
33Where fairy water-breaks do murmur on
34For ever; and I saw the sparkling foam,
35And--with my cheek on one of those green stones
36That, fleeced with moss, under the shady trees,
37Lay round me, scattered like a flock of sheep--
38I heard the murmur, and the murmuring sound,
39In that sweet mood when pleasure loves to pay
40Tribute to ease; and, of its joy secure,
41The heart luxuriates with indifferent things,
42Wasting its kindliness on stocks and stones,
43And on the vacant air. Then up I rose,
44And dragged to earth both branch and bough, with crash
45And merciless ravage: and the shady nook
46Of hazels, and the green and mossy bower,
47Deformed and sullied, patiently gave up
48Their quiet being: and, unless I now
49Confound my present feelings with the past;
50Ere from the mutilated bower I turned
51Exulting, rich beyond the wealth of kings,
52I felt a sense of pain when I beheld
53The silent trees, and saw the intruding sky.--
55In gentleness of heart; with gentle hand
56Touch--for there is a spirit in the woods.
Notes
1] Composed in Germany late in 1798 and quoted by Dorothy Wordsworth in a letter of December 21 (?). Wordsworth said that it was "intended as a part of a poem on my own life [The Prelude], but struck out as not being wanted there." In an early notebook (1799?) the poem is preceded by a passage addressed to and reproaching his "beloved Friend," named Lucy, for being a ravager of the autumn woods, as the poet remembers himself to have been in boyhood. Back to Line
11] My frugal Dame: Mrs. Tyson in whose cottage Wordsworth and his brothers lived during their years at Hawkshead Grammar School. Back to Line
54] dearest Maiden: presumably, the Lucy addressed in the introduction to the poem which was omitted on publication. Back to Line
Publication Start Year
1800
RPO poem Editors
J. R. MacGillivray
RPO Edition
3RP 2.334.
Rhyme