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William Wordsworth Quotes - Page 19

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A light to guide, a rod To check the erring, and reprove.

A light to guide, a rod To check the erring, and reprove.

William Wordsworth
Light, Erring, Guides
'Ode to Duty' (1807)

The mysteries that cups of flowers infold And all the gorgeous sights which fairies do behold.

William Wordsworth
Flower, Sight, Cups
William Wordsworth, “Stanzas”

Huge and mighty forms that do not live like living men, moved slowly through the mind by day and were trouble to my dreams.

William Wordsworth
Dream, Men, Mind
'The Prelude' (1850) bk. 1, l. 398

The child is father of the man.

William Wordsworth
Children, Father, Men
"My Heart Leaps Up When I Behold" l. 1 (1807). Wordsworth also used the last three lines as the epigraph for his poem "Ode: Intimations of Immortality from Recollections of Early Childhood" (1807). See Milton 43

The stars of midnight shall be dear To her; and she shall lean her ear In many a secret place Where rivulets dance their wayward round, And beauty born of murmuring sound Shall pass into her face.

William Wordsworth
Beauty, Stars, Secret Places
Samuel Taylor Coleridge, William Wordsworth (2015). “Lyrical Ballads and other Poems by Samuel Taylor Coleridge and William Wordsworth (Including Their Thoughts On Poetry Principles and Secrets): Collections of Poetry which marked the beginning of the English Romantic movement in literature, including poems The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, The Dungeon, The Nightingale, Dejection: An Ode”, p.568, e-artnow

On Man, on Nature, and on Human Life, Musing in solitude, I oft perceive Fair trains of images before me rise, Accompanied by feelings of delight Pure, or with no unpleasing sadness mixed.

William Wordsworth
Sadness, Men, Solitude
1814 'The Excursion', preface, l.1-5.

Now when the primrose makes a splendid show, And lilies face the March-winds in full blow, And humbler growths as moved with one desire Put on, to welcome spring, their best attire, Poor Robin is yet flowerless; but how gay With his red stalks upon this sunny day!

William Wordsworth
Spring, Gay, Blow
William Wordsworth (1852). “Complete Poetical Works”, p.419

Those obstinate questionings Of sense and outward things, Fallings from us, vanishings; Blank misgivings of a Creature Moving about in worlds not realised, High instincts before which our mortal Nature Did tremble like a guilty thing surprised

William Wordsworth
Moving, Fall, World
"Ode: Intimations of Immortality from Recollections of Early Childhood" l. 146 (1807)

With little here to do or see Of things that in the great world be, Sweet Daisy! oft I talk to thee For thou art worthy, Thou unassuming commonplace Of Nature, with that homely face, And yet with something of a grace Which love makes for thee!

William Wordsworth
Sweet, Art, Grace
1802 'To the Daisy', stanza 1 (published 1807).

"One impulse from a vernal wood

William Wordsworth
Nature, Tree, Woods
1798 'The Tables Turned', stanzas 6-8.

We murder to dissect.

William Wordsworth
Discovery, Murder
"The Tables Turned" l. 28 (1798)

Plain living and high thinking are no more.

William Wordsworth
Life, Thinking, Idolatry
"Written in London. September, 1802" l. 11 (1807)

Who, doomed to go in company with Pain And Fear and Bloodshed,-miserable train!- Turns his necessity to glorious gain.

William Wordsworth
Pain, Fear, Gains
William Wordsworth, Dorothy Wordsworth (1815). “Poems by William Wordsworth: Including Lyrical Ballads, and the Miscellaneous Pieces of the Author”, p.87

Poetry is most just to its divine origin, when it administers the comforts and breathes the thoughts of religion.

William Wordsworth
Poetry, Comfort, Breathe

Nor less I deem that there are Powers Which of themselves our minds impress; That we can feed this mind of ours In a wise passiveness

William Wordsworth
Wise, Mind, Divine
William Wordsworth (1871). “The poetical works of William Wordsworth”, p.292

The vision and the faculty divine; Yet wanting the accomplishment of verse.

William Wordsworth
Accomplishment, Vision, Divinity
'The Excursion' (1814) bk. 1, l. 77

Burn all the statutes and their shelves: They stir us up against our kind; And worse, against ourselves.

William Wordsworth
Kind, Shelves, Statutes
William Wordsworth (1848). “The Complete Poetical Works of William Wordsworth: Together with a Description of the Country of the Lakes in the North of England”, p.201

What is pride? A rocket that emulates the stars.

William Wordsworth
Stars, Pride, Rockets

Elysian beauty, melancholy grace, Brought from a pensive though a happy place.

William Wordsworth
Beauty, Grace, Melancholy
William Wordsworth (1847). “The Poems of William Wordsworth”, p.163

The first cuckoo's melancholy cry.

William Wordsworth
Cuckoos, Firsts, Cry
William Wordsworth, Dorothy Wordsworth (1815). “Poems”, p.174

A man he seems of cheerful yesterdays And confident tomorrows.

William Wordsworth
Confidence, Men, Yesterday
William Wordsworth (2013). “Delphi Complete Works of William Wordsworth (Illustrated)”, p.828, Delphi Classics

Thou best philosopher, who yet dost keep/ Thy heritage, thou eye among the blind.

William Wordsworth
Eye, Heritage, Philosopher
William Wordsworth (1847). “The Poems of William Wordsworth”, p.442

The dew was falling fast, the stars began to blink I heard a voice it said Drink, pretty creature, drink'

William Wordsworth
Stars, Fall, Voice
William Wordsworth, Dorothy Wordsworth (1815). “Poems by William Wordsworth:: Including Lyrical Ballads, and the Miscellaneous Pieces of the Author. With Additional Poems, a New Preface, and a Supplementary Essay. In Two Volumes”, p.32

Ethereal minstrel! pilgrim of the sky! Dost thou despise the earth where cares abound? Or, while the wings aspire, are heart and eye Both with thy nest upon the dewy ground?

William Wordsworth
Eye, Heart, Sky
1825 'To a Skylark', l.1-4 (published 1827).

He loves not well whose love is bold! I would not have thee come too nigh. The sun's gold would not seem pure gold Unless the sun were in the sky: To take him thence and chain him near Would make his beauty disappear. William Winter, Love's Queen. The unconquerable pang of despised love.

William Wordsworth
Life, Queens, Winter

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