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William Wordsworth Quotes - Page 4

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As high as we have mounted in delight, In our dejection do we sink as low.

As high as we have mounted in delight, In our dejection do we sink as low.

William Wordsworth
Change, Delight, Lows
William Wordsworth, Dorothy Wordsworth (1815). “Poems”, p.28

Every great and original writer, in proportion as he is great and original, must himself create the taste by which he is to be relished.

William Wordsworth
Writing, Artist, Taste
Letter to Lady Beaumont, 21 May 1807

Through primrose tufts, in that green bower, The periwinkle trails its wreath; And 'tis my faith that every flower Enjoys the air it breathes. The birds around me hopped and played, Their thoughts I cannot measure; But the least motion which they made, It seemed a thrill of pleasure. The budding twigs spread out their fan, To catch the breezy air; And I must think, do all I can That there was pleasure there. If this belief from heaven be sent, If such be Nature's holy plan, Have I not reason to lament What man has made of man?

William Wordsworth
Spring, Flower, Men
William Wordsworth, “Written In Early Spring”

Our birth is but a sleep and a forgetting; The Soul that rises with us, our life's Star, Hath had elsewhere its setting, And cometh from afar.

William Wordsworth
Stars, Sleep, Afterlife
"Ode: Intimations of Immortality from Recollections of Early Childhood" l. 58 (1807)

Our meddling intellect Misshapes the beauteous forms of things We murder to dissect

William Wordsworth
Murder, Form, Intellect
'The Tables Turned' (1798)

Look for the stars, you'll say that there are none; / Look up a second time, and, one by one, / You mark them twinkling out with silvery light, / And wonder how they could elude the sight!

William Wordsworth
Stars, Light, Sight
William Wordsworth, Stephen Gill (2000). “The Major Works”, p.369, Oxford University Press, USA

I have said that poetry is the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings: it takes its origin from emotion recollected in tranquillity: the emotion is contemplated till, by a species of reaction, the tranquillity gradually disappears, and an emotion, kindred to that which was before the subject of contemplation, is gradually produced, and does itself actually exist in the mind.

William Wordsworth
Powerful, Poetry, Feelings
William Wordsworth, Dorothy Wordsworth (1815). “Poems”, p.388

A brotherhood of venerable trees.

William Wordsworth
Brother, Tree, Brotherhood
William Wordsworth (1859). “The poetical works of William Wordsworth ...”, p.28

I have felt a presence that disturbs me with the joy of elevated thoughts; a sense sublime of something far more deeply interfused, whose dwelling is the light of setting suns, and the round ocean, and the living air, and the blue sky, and in the mind of man.

William Wordsworth
Life, Ocean, Men
'Lines composed a few miles above Tintern Abbey' (1798) l. 88

Wisdom sits with children round her knees.

William Wordsworth
Wisdom, Children, Knees

My heart leaps up when I behold A rainbow in the sky: So was it when my life began; So is it now I am a man; So be it when I shall grow old, Or let me die! The Child is father of the Man; I could wish my days to be Bound each to each by natural piety.

William Wordsworth
Beauty, Children, Father
"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

Oft in my way have I stood still, though but a casual passenger, so much I felt the awfulness of life.

William Wordsworth
Life, Way, Casual
William Wordsworth (2013). “Delphi Complete Works of William Wordsworth (Illustrated)”, p.686, Delphi Classics

There is a comfort in the strength of love; 'Twill make a thing endurable, which else would overset the brain, or break the heart.

William Wordsworth
Love, Being Strong, Heart
William Wordsworth, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Michael Mason (2007). “Lyrical Ballads”, p.356, Pearson Education

Poetry is the breath and finer spirit of all knowledge; it is the impassioned expression which is in the countenance of all Science

William Wordsworth
Expression, Spirit, Poetry Is
'Lyrical Ballads' (2nd ed., 1802) preface

We live by Admiration, Hope, and Love; And, even as these are well and wisely fixed, In dignity of being we ascend.

William Wordsworth
Life, And Love, Dignity
William Wordsworth (1847). “The Poems of William Wordsworth”, p.482

While all the future, for thy purer soul, With "sober certainties" of love is blest.

William Wordsworth
Life, Love Is, Soul
William Wordsworth (1837). “The Complete Poetical Works of William Wordsworth: Together with a Description of the Country of the Lakes in the North of England, Now First Published with His Works ...”, p.70

Wisdom married to immortal verse.

William Wordsworth
Wisdom, Married, Immortal
William Wordsworth (1814). “The Excursion,: Being a Portion of The Recluse, a Poem”, p.334

'Tis my faith that every flower Enjoys the air it breathes!

William Wordsworth
Nature, Flower, Air
William Wordsworth (1837). “The Complete Poetical Works of William Wordsworth: Together with a Description of the Country of the Lakes in the North of England, Now First Published with His Works ...”, p.341

I travelled among unknown men, In lands beyond the sea; Nor England! did I know till then What love I bore to thee.

William Wordsworth
Love, Nature, Travel
'I travelled among unknown men' (1807)

A famous man is Robin Hood, The English ballad-singer's joy.

William Wordsworth
Men, Joy, Robins
William Wordsworth, Dorothy Wordsworth (1815). “Poems”, p.91

Our birth is but a sleep and a forgetting. Not in entire forgetfulness, and not in utter nakedness, but trailing clouds of glory do we come.

William Wordsworth
Inspirational, Baby, Sleep
"Ode: Intimations of Immortality from Recollections of Early Childhood" l. 58 (1807)

Though nothing can bring back the hour Of splendour in the grass, of glory in the flower.

William Wordsworth
Sympathy, Flower, Condolences
"Ode: Intimations of Immortality from Recollections of Early Childhood" l. 177 (1807)

A few strong instincts and a few plain rules.

William Wordsworth
Strong, Intuition, Instinct
William Wordsworth (1838). “The Sonnets of William Wordsworth: Collected in One Volume, with a Few Additional Ones, Now First Published”, p.157

True beauty dwells in deep retreats, Whose veil is unremoved Till heart with heart in concord beats, And the lover is beloved.

William Wordsworth
Life, Heart, True Beauty
"To ____ ('Let other bards of angels sing...')". Poem by William Wordsworth, www.bartleby.com. 1824.

Bright was the summer's noon when quickening steps Followed each other till a dreary moor Was crossed, a bare ridge clomb, upon whose top Standing alone, as from a rampart's edge, I overlooked the bed of Windermere, Like a vast river, stretching in the sun.

William Wordsworth
Summer, July, Rivers
William Wordsworth (1854). “The Complete Poetical Works of William Wordsworth”, p.492

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