of thine; Lift me, guide me high and high [4] To thy banqueting-place in the sky. 15 Joyous as morning, [5] Thou art laughing and scorning; Thou hast a nest for thy love and thy rest, And, though little troubled with sloth, Drunken Lark! thou would'st be loth 20 87 To be such a traveller as I. Happy, happy Liver, With a soul as strong as a mountain river Pouring out praise to the almighty Giver, Joy and jollity be with us both! 25 Alas! my journey, rugged and uneven, Through prickly moors or dusty ways must wind; But hearing thee, or others of thy kind, As full of gladness and as free of heaven, I, with my fate contented, will plod on, 30 And hope for higher raptures, when life's day is done. [6] * VARIANTS ON THE TEXT [Variant 1: 1827. With all the heav'ns ... 1807] [Variant 2: 88 But ... MS.] [Variant 3: 1815. the soul ... 1807.] [Variant 4: 1832. Up with me, up with me, high and high, ... 1807.] [Variant 5: This and the previous stanza were omitted in the edition of 1827, but restored in that of 1832.] [Variant 6: 1827. Joy and jollity be with us both! Hearing thee, or else some other, As merry a Brother, I on the earth will go plodding on, 89 By myself, chearfully, till the day is done. 1807. What though my course be rugged and uneven, To prickly moors and dusty ways confined, Yet, hearing thee, or others of thy kind, As full of gladness and as free of heaven, I on the earth will go plodding on, By myself, cheerfully, till the day is done. 1820.] * FOOTNOTES ON THE TEXT [Footnote A: So it is printed in the 'Prose Works of Wordsworth' (1876); but the date was 1805.--Ed.] [Footnote B: In a MS. copy this series is called "Poems composed 'for amusement' during a Tour, chiefly on foot."--Ed.] Compare this poem with Shelley's 'Skylark', and with Wordsworth's poem, on the same subject, written in the year 1825, and the last five stanzas of his 'Morning Exercise' written in 1827; also with William Watson's 'First Skylark of Spring', 1895.--Ed. 90 * FIDELITY Composed 1805.--Published 1807 [The young man whose death gave occasion to this poem was named Charles Gough, and had come early in the spring to Patterdale for the sake of angling. While attempting to cross over Helvellyn to Grasmere he slipped from a steep part of the rock where the ice was not thawed, and perished. His body was discovered as described in this poem. Walter Scott heard of the accident, and both he and I, without either of us knowing that the other had taken up the subject, each wrote a poem in admiration of the dog's fidelity. His contains a most beautiful stanza: "How long did'st thou think that his silence was slumber! When the wind waved his garment how oft did'st thou start!" 91 I will add that the sentiment in the last four lines of the last stanza of my verses was uttered by a shepherd with such exactness, that a traveller, who afterwards reported his account in print, was induced to question the man whether he had read them, which he had not.--I. F.] One of the "Poems of Sentiment and Reflection."--Ed. A barking sound the Shepherd hears, A cry as of a dog or fox; He halts--and searches with his eyes Among the scattered rocks: And now at distance can discern 5 A stirring in a brake of fern; And instantly a dog is seen, Glancing through that covert green. [1] The Dog is not of mountain breed; Its motions, too, are wild and shy; 10 With something, as the Shepherd thinks, Unusual in its cry: Nor is there any one in sight All round, in hollow or on height; Nor shout, nor whistle strikes his ear; 15 What is the creature doing here? It was a cove, a huge recess, 92 That keeps, till June, December's snow; A lofty precipice in front, A silent tarn [A] below! [B] 20 Far in the bosom of Helvellyn, Remote from public road or dwelling, Pathway, or cultivated land; From trace of human foot or hand. There sometimes doth [2] a leaping fish 25 Send through the tarn a lonely cheer; The crags repeat the raven's croak, [C] In symphony austere; Thither the rainbow comes--the cloud-- And mists that spread the flying shroud; 30 And sunbeams; and the sounding blast, That, if it could, would hurry past; But that enormous barrier holds [3] it fast. Not free from boding thoughts, [4] a while The Shepherd stood; then makes his way 35 O'er rocks and stones, following the Dog [5] As quickly as he may; Nor far had gone before he found A human skeleton on the ground; The appalled Discoverer with a sigh [6] 40 Looks round, to learn the history. From those abrupt and perilous rocks The Man had fallen, that place of fear! 93 At length upon the Shepherd's mind It breaks, and all is clear: 45 He instantly recalled the name, [7] And who he was, and whence he came; Remembered, too, the very day On which the Traveller passed this way. But hear a wonder, for whose sake 50 This lamentable tale I tell! [8] A lasting monument of words This wonder merits well. The Dog, which still was hovering nigh, Repeating the same timid cry, 55 This Dog, had been through three months' space A dweller in that savage place. Yes, proof was plain that, since the day When this ill-fated Traveller died, [9] The Dog had watched about the spot, 60 Or by his master's side: How nourished here through such long time He knows, who gave that love sublime; And gave that strength of feeling, great Above all human estimate! 65 * 94 VARIANTS ON THE TEXT [Variant 1: 1820. From which immediately leaps out A Dog, and yelping runs about. 1807. And instantly a Dog is seen, Glancing from that covert green. 1815.] [Variant 2: 1820. ... does ... 1807.] [Variant 3: 1837. binds 1807.] 95 [Variant 4: 1815. Not knowing what to think 1807.] [Variant 5: 1837. Towards the Dog, o'er rocks and stones, 1807.] [Variant 6: 1815. Sad sight! the Shepherd with a sigh 1807.] [Variant 7: And signs and circumstances dawned Till everything was clear; He made discovery of his name. MS.] [Variant 8: 96 1815. But hear a wonder now, for sake Of which this mournful Tale I tell! 1807.] [Variant 9: 1827. On which the Traveller thus had died 1807.] * FOOTNOTES ON THE TEXT [Footnote A: Tarn is a
small Mere or Lake mostly high up in the mountains,--W. W.] [Footnote B: Compare the reference to Helvellyn, and its "deep coves, shaped by skeleton arms," in the 'Musings near Aquapendente' (1837). Wordsworth here describes Red Tarn, under Helvellyn, to the east; but Charles Gough was killed on the Kepplecove side of Swirell Edge, and not at Red Tarn. Bishop Watson of Llandaff, writing to Hayley (see 'Anecdotes of the Life of Bishop Watson', p. 440), writes about Charles 97 Gouche (evidently Gough). He had been lodging at "the Cherry Inn," near Wytheburn, sometime before his death.--Ed.] [Footnote C: Compare 'The Excursion', book iv. ll. 1185-94.--Ed.] Thomas Wilkinson--referred to in the notes to 'The Solitary Reaper', vol. ii. pp. 399, 400, and the verses 'To the Spade of a Friend', in vol. iv.--alludes to this incident at some length in his poem, 'Emont Vale'. Wilkinson attended the funeral of young Gough, and writes of the incident with feeling, but without inspiration. Gough perished early in April, and his body was not found till July 22nd, 1805. A reference to his fate will be found in Lockhart's 'Life of Scott' (vol. ii. p. 274); also in a letter of Mr. Luff of Patterdale, to his wife, July 23rd, 1805. Henry Crabb Robinson records (see his 'Diary, Reminiscences', etc., vol. ii. p. 25) a conversation with Wordsworth, in which he said of this poem, that "he purposely made the narrative as prosaic as possible, in order that no discredit might be thrown on the truth of the incident."--Ed. * 98 INCIDENT CHARACTERISTIC OF A FAVOURITE DOG [A] Composed 1805.--Published 1807 [This dog I knew well. It belonged to Mrs. Wordsworth's brother, Mr. Thomas Hutchinson, who then lived at Sockburn-on-the-Tees, a beautiful retired situation, where I used to visit him and his sisters before my marriage. My sister and I spent many months there after my return from Germany in 1799--I. F.] One of the "Poems of Sentiment and Reflection."--Ed. On his morning rounds the Master Goes to learn how all things fare; Searches pasture after pasture, Sheep and cattle eyes with care; And, for silence or for talk, 5 He hath comrades in his walk; Four dogs, each pair of different breed, Distinguished two for scent, and two for speed. 99 See a hare before him started! --Off they fly in earnest chase; 10 Every dog is eager-hearted, All the four are in the race: And the hare whom they pursue, Knows from instinct [1] what to do; Her hope is near: no turn she makes; 15 But, like an arrow, to the river takes. Deep the river was, and crusted Thinly by a one night's frost; But the nimble Hare hath trusted To the ice, and safely crost; so 20 She hath crost, and without heed All are following at full speed, When, lo! the ice, so thinly spread, Breaks--and the greyhound, DART, is overhead! Better fate have PRINCE and SWALLOW--25 See them cleaving to the sport! MUSIC has no heart to follow, Little MUSIC, she stops short. She hath neither wish nor heart, Hers is now another part: 30 A loving creature she, and brave! And fondly strives [2] her struggling friend to save. From the brink her paws she stretches, Very hands as you would say! 100 And afflicting moans she fetches, 35 As he breaks the ice away. For herself she hath no fears,-- Him alone she sees and hears,-- Makes efforts with complainings; nor gives o'er Until her fellow sinks to reappear no more. [3] 40 * VARIANTS ON THE TEXT [Variant 1: 1837. Hath an instinct ... 1807.] [Variant 2: 1815. And doth her best ... 1807.] [Variant 3: 101 1837. Makes efforts and complainings; nor gives o'er Until her Fellow sunk, and reappear'd no more. 1807. ... sank, ... 1820.] * FOOTNOTE ON THE TEXT [Footnote A: In 1807 and 1815
