THE POETICAL WORKS OF WILLIAM WORDSWORTH, VOL. 8 (Completed)

"SO FAIR, SO SWEET, WITHAL SO SENSITIVE"

Composed July 1844.--Published 1845

One of the "Poems of Sentiment and Reflection."--ED.

So fair, so sweet, withal so sensitive,

Would that the little Flowers were born to live,

Conscious of half the pleasure which they give;

That to this mountain-daisy's self were known[272]

The beauty of its star-shaped shadow, thrown

On the smooth surface of this[273] naked stone!

And what if hence a bold desire should mount

High as the Sun, that he could take account

Of all that issues from his glorious fount!

So might he ken how by his sovereign aid

These delicate companionships are made;

And how he rules the pomp of light and shade;

And were the Sister-power that shines by night

So privileged, what a countenance of delight

Would through the clouds break forth on human sight!

Fond fancies! wheresoe'er shall turn thine eye

On earth, air, ocean, or the starry sky,

Converse with Nature in pure sympathy;[274]

All vain desires, all lawless wishes quelled,

Be Thou to love and praise alike impelled,

Whatever boon is granted or withheld.[275][276]

[272] Compare the lines To a Child, written in her Album, in 1834.--ED.

[273] 1844.

Its sole companion on this

C.

[274] 1845.

Fond fancies' bond, between a smile and sigh,

Do thou more wise, where'er thou turn'st thine eye

Converse with Nature in pure sympathy.

C.

... be taught to fix an eye

On holy Nature in pure sympathy.

C.

Fond fancies, wheresoe'er shall range thine eye

Among the forms and powers of earth or sky,

Converse with Nature in pure sympathy.

C.

[275] 1845.

A thankful heart all lawless wishes quelled,

To joy, to praise, to love alike compelled,

Whatever boon be granted or withheld.

C.

The following variation of the two last stanzas is from a MS. copy by Wordsworth.

Fond fancies! wheresoe'er shall range thine eye

Among the forms and powers of earth and sky,

Converse with nature in pure sympathy.

A thankful heart, all lawless wishes quell'd,

To joy, to praise, to love alike compell'd,

Whatever boon be granted or withheld.

August, 1844.--ED.

[276] The following account of the circumstance which gave rise to the preceding poem is from the Memoir of Professor Archer Butler, by Mr.Woodward, prefixed to the "First Series" of his Sermons. The late Rev.Archdeacon Graves, of Dublin (in 1849 of Windermere), in writing to Mr.Woodward, gives an interesting account of a walk, in July 1844, from Windermere, by Rydal and Grasmere, to Loughrigg Tarn, etc., in which Butler was accompanied by Wordsworth, Julius Charles Hare, Sir William Hamilton, etc. He says, "The day was additionally memorable as giving birth to an interesting minor poem of Mr. Wordsworth's. When we reached the side of Loughrigg Tarn (which you may remember he notes for its similarity, in the peculiar character of its beauty, to the Lago di Nemi--Dianae Speculum), the loveliness of the scene arrested our steps and fixed our gaze. The splendour of a July noon surrounded us and lit up the landscape, with the Langdale Pikes soaring above, and the bright tarn shining beneath; and when the poet's eyes were satisfied with their feast on the beauties familiar to them, they sought relief in the search, to them a happy vital habit, for new beauty in the flower-enamelled turf at his feet. There his attention was arrested by a fair smooth stone, of the size of an ostrich's egg, seeming to imbed at its centre, and at the same time to display a dark star-shaped fossil of most distinct outline. Upon closer inspection this proved to be the shadow of a daisy projected upon it with extraordinary precision by the intense light of an almost vertical sun. The poet drew the attention of the rest of the party to the minute but beautiful  phenomenon, and gave expression at the time to thoughts suggested by it, which so interested our friend Professor Butler, that he plucked the tiny flower, and, saying that "it should be not only the theme but the memorial of the thought they had heard," bestowed it somewhere carefully for preservation. The little poem, in which some of these thoughts were afterwards crystallised, commences with the stanza--

So fair, so sweet, withal so sensitive,

Would that the little flowers were born to live,

Conscious of half the pleasure that they give."

Memoir, pp. 27, 28.--ED.