book iv

. l. 1163 (vol. v. p. 188)--

... choral song, or burst Sublime of instrumental harmony, To glorify the Eternal!--ED.

[591] See the Fenwick note prefixed to this poem.--ED.

[592] Genesis i.--ED.

[593] "And God said, Let there be light, and there was light" (Genesis i. 3).

ED.

[594] 1 Corinthians xv. 52.--ED.

[595] Compare _Ode, Intimations of Immortality_, in stanza ix.--

Our noisy years seem moments in the being Of the eternal Silence.--ED.

[596] St. Luke xxi. 33.--ED.

1829

The Poems of 1829 were few; and were, for the most part, suggested by incidents or occurrences at Rydal Mount.--ED.

GOLD AND SILVER FISHES IN A VASE

Composed 1829.--Published 1835

[They were a present from Miss Jewsbury, of whom mention is made in the note at the end of the next poem. The fish were healthy to all appearance in their confinement for a long time, but at last, for some cause we could not make out, they languished, and, one of them being all but dead, they were taken to the pool under the old pollard-oak. The apparently dying one lay on its side unable to move. I used to watch it, and about the tenth day it began to right itself, and in a few days more was able to swim about with its companions. For many months they continued to prosper in their new place of abode; but one night by an unusually great flood they were swept out of the pool, and perished to our great regret.--I. F.]

One of the "Miscellaneous Poems."--ED.

The soaring lark is blest as proud When at heaven's gate she sings;[597] The roving bee proclaims aloud Her flight by vocal wings; While Ye, in lasting durance pent, 5 Your silent lives employ For something more than dull content, Though haply less than joy.[598]

Yet might your glassy prison seem A place where joy is known, 10 Where golden flash and silver gleam Have meanings of their own; While, high and low, and all about, Your motions, glittering Elves! Ye weave--no danger from without, 15 And peace among yourselves.

Type of a sunny human breast Is your transparent cell; Where Fear is but a transient guest, No sullen Humours dwell; 20 Where, sensitive of every ray That smites this tiny sea, Your scaly panoplies repay The loan with usury.

How beautiful!--Yet none knows why 25 This ever-graceful change, Renewed--renewed incessantly-- Within your quiet range. Is it that ye with conscious skill For mutual pleasure glide; 30 And sometimes, not without your will, Are dwarfed, or magnified?

Fays, Genii of gigantic size! And now, in twilight dim, Clustering like constellated eyes, 35 In wings of Cherubim, When the fierce orbs abate their glare;--[599] Whate'er your forms express, Whate'er ye seem, whate'er ye are-- All leads to gentleness. 40

Cold though your nature be, 'tis pure; Your birthright is a fence From all that haughtier kinds endure Through tyranny of sense. Ah! not alone by colours bright 45 Are Ye to heaven allied, When, like essential Forms of light, Ye mingle, or divide.

For day-dreams soft as e'er beguiled Day-thoughts while limbs repose; 50 For moonlight fascinations mild, Your gift, ere shutters close-- Accept, mute Captives! thanks and praise; And may this tribute prove That gentle admirations raise 55 Delight resembling love.

FOOTNOTES:

[597] Compare _Cymbeline_, act II. scene iii. l. 21.--ED.

[598] See note [448] to p. 160.--ED.

[599] 1837.

When they abate their fiery glare: 1835.

LIBERTY

(SEQUEL TO THE ABOVE)[600]

[ADDRESSED TO A FRIEND; THE GOLD AND SILVER FISHES HAVING BEEN REMOVED TO A POOL IN THE PLEASURE-GROUND OF RYDAL MOUNT.]

Composed 1829.--Published 1835

"The liberty of a people consists in being governed by laws which they have made for themselves, under whatever form it be of government. The liberty of a private man, in being master of his own time and actions, as far as may consist with the laws of God and of his country. Of this latter we are here to discourse."--COWLEY.

One of the "Miscellaneous Poems."--ED.

Those breathing Tokens of your kind regard, (Suspect not, Anna,[601] that their fate is hard; Not soon does aught to which mild fancies cling In lonely spots, become a slighted thing;) Those silent Inmates now no longer share, 5 Nor do they need, our hospitable care, Removed in kindness from their glassy Cell To the fresh waters of a living Well--[602] An elfin pool so sheltered that its rest No winds disturb;[603] the mirror of whose breast 10 Is smooth as clear, save where with dimples small[604] A fly may settle, or a blossom fall.[605] --_There_ swims, of blazing sun and beating shower Fearless (but how obscured!) the golden Power, That from his bauble prison used to cast 15 Gleams by the richest jewel unsurpast; And near him, darkling like a sullen Gnome, The silver Tenant of the crystal dome; Dissevered both from all the mysteries Of hue and altering shape that charmed all eyes. 20 Alas! they pined,[606] they languished while they shone; And, if not so, what matters beauty gone And admiration lost, by change of place That brings to the inward creature no disgrace? But if the change restore his birth-right, then, 25 Whate'er the difference, boundless is the gain. Who can divine what impulses from God Reach the caged lark, within a town-abode, From his poor inch or two of daisied sod? O yield him back his privilege!--No sea 30 Swells like the bosom of a man set free; A wilderness is rich with liberty. Roll on, ye spouting whales, who die or keep Your independence in the fathomless Deep! Spread, tiny nautilus, the living sail; 35 Dive, at thy choice, or brave the freshening gale! If unreproved the ambitious eagle mount Sunward to seek the daylight in its fount,[607] Bays, gulfs, and ocean's Indian width, shall be, Till the world perishes, a field for thee! 40

While musing here I sit in shadow cool, And watch these mute Companions, in the pool, (Among reflected boughs of leafy trees) By glimpses caught--disporting at their ease, Enlivened, braced, by hardy luxuries, 45 I ask what warrant fixed them (like a spell Of witchcraft fixed them) in the crystal cell; To wheel with languid motion round and round, Beautiful, yet in mournful durance bound. Their peace, perhaps, our lightest footfall marred; 50 On their quick sense our sweetest music jarred; And whither could they dart, if seized with fear? No sheltering stone, no tangled root was near. When fire or taper ceased to cheer the room, They wore away the night in starless gloom; 55 And, when the sun first dawned upon the streams, How faint their portion of his vital beams! Thus, and unable to complain, they fared, While not one joy of ours by them was shared.

Is there a cherished bird (I venture now 60 To snatch a sprig from Chaucer's reverend brow)--[608] Is there a brilliant fondling of the cage, Though sure of plaudits on his costly stage, Though fed with dainties from the snow-white hand Of a kind mistress, fairest of the land, 65 But gladly would escape; and, if need were, Scatter the colours from the plumes that bear The emancipated captive through blithe air Into strange woods, where he at large may live On best or worst which they and Nature give? 70 The beetle loves his unpretending track, The snail the house he carries on his back; The far-fetched worm with pleasure would disown The bed we give him, though of softest down; A noble instinct; in all kinds the same, 75 All ranks! What Sovereign, worthy of the name, If doomed to breathe against his lawful will An element that flatters him--to kill, But would rejoice to barter outward show For the least boon that freedom can bestow? 80

But most the Bard is true to inborn right, Lark of the dawn, and Philomel of night, Exults in freedom, can with rapture vouch For the dear blessings of a lowly couch, 84 A natural meal--days, months, from Nature's hand; Time, place, and business, all at his command!-- Who bends to happier duties, who more wise Than the industrious Poet, taught to prize, Above all grandeur, a pure life uncrossed By cares in which simplicity is lost? 90 That life--the flowery path that[609] winds by stealth-- Which Horace needed for his spirit's health;[610] Sighed for, in heart and genius, overcome By noise and strife, and questions wearisome, And the vain splendours of Imperial Rome?--[611] 95 Let easy mirth his social hours inspire, And fiction animate his sportive lyre, Attuned to verse that, crowning light Distress With garlands, cheats her into happiness; Give _me_ the humblest note of those sad strains 100 Drawn forth by pressure of his gilded chains, As a chance-sunbeam from his memory fell Upon the Sabine farm he loved so well;[612] Or when the prattle of Blandusia's spring[613] Haunted his ear--he only listening-- 105 He proud to please, above all rivals, fit To win the palm of gaiety and wit; He, doubt not, with involuntary dread, Shrinking from each new favour to be shed, By the world's Ruler, on his honoured head! 110

In a deep vision's intellectual scene, Such earnest longings and regrets as keen Depressed the melancholy Cowley, laid Under a fancied yew-tree's luckless shade; A doleful bower for penitential song, 115 Where Man and Muse complained of mutual wrong; While Cam's ideal current glided by, And antique towers nodded their foreheads high, Citadels dear to studious privacy. But Fortune, who had long been used to sport 120 With this tried Servant of a thankless Court, Relenting met his wishes; and to you The remnant of his days at least was true; You, whom, though long deserted, he loved best; You, Muses, books, fields, liberty, and rest![614] 125

Far[615] happier they who, fixing hope and aim On the humanities of peaceful fame, Enter betimes with more than martial fire The generous course, aspire, and still aspire; Upheld by warnings heeded not too late 130 Stifle the contradictions of their fate, And to one purpose cleave, their Being's godlike mate!

Thus, gifted Friend, but with the placid brow That woman ne'er should forfeit, keep _thy_ vow; With modest scorn reject whate'er would blind 135 The ethereal eyesight, cramp the wingèd mind! Then, with a blessing granted from above To every act, word, thought, and look of love, Life's book for Thee may lie unclosed, till age Shall with a thankful tear bedrop its latest page.[616] 140

FOOTNOTES:

[600] 1835.

SEQUEL TO THE PRECEDING 1837.

The text of 1857 returns to that of 1835.

[601] See the Sonnet (p. 168) beginning--

While Anna's peers and early playmates tread.

ED.

[602] See _The Faërie Queene_,