The Poem
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| Pleasures newly found are sweet When they lie about our feet: February last, my heart First at sight of thee was glad; All unheard of as thou art, Thou must needs, I think, have had, Celandine! and long ago, Praise of which I nothing know. I have not a doubt but he, Whosoe'er the man might be, Who the first with pointed rays (Workman worthy to be sainted) Set the sign-board in a blaze, When the rising sun he painted, Took the fancy from a glance At thy glittering countenance. Soon as gentle breezes bring News of winter's vanishing, And the children build their bowers, Sticking 'kerchief-plots of mould All about with full-blown flowers, Thick as sheep in shepherd's fold! With the proudest thou art there, Mantling in the tiny square. Often have I sighed to measure By myself a lonely pleasure, Sighed to think, I read a book Only read, perhaps, by me; Yet I long could overlook Thy bright coronet and Thee, And thy arch and wily ways, And thy store of other praise. Blithe of heart, from week to week Thou dost play at hide-and-seek; While the patient primrose sits Like a beggar in the cold, Thou, a flower of wiser wits, Slip'st into thy sheltering hold; Liveliest of the vernal train When ye all are out again. Drawn by what peculiar spell, By what charm of sight or smell, Does the dim-eyed curious Bee, Labouring for her waxen cells, Fondly settle upon Thee Prized above all buds and bells Opening daily at thy side, By the season multiplied? Thou art not beyond the moon, But a thing "beneath our shoon:" Let the bold Discoverer thrid In his bark the polar sea; Rear who will a pyramid; Praise it is enough for me, If there be but three or four Who will love my little Flower. [Note] [Contents 1802] [Main Contents] | [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] | [A] | 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 |
| 1836 | |
| ... risen ... | 1807 |
... risen ...
| 1832 | |
| ... shelter'd ... | 1807 |
... shelter'd ...
| 1845 | |
| Bright as any of the train | 1807 |
Bright as any of the train
| This stanza was added in 1845. (See [note], p. 302.)] |
| 1845 | |
| Let, as old Magellen did, Others roam about the sea; Build who will a pyramid[a]; | 1807 |
| Let, with bold advent'rous skill, Others thrid the polar sea; Rear a pyramid who will; | 1820 |
| Let the bold Adventurer thrid In his bark the polar sea; Rear who will a pyramid; | 1827 |
Let, as old Magellen did,
Others roam about the sea;
Build who will a pyramid[a];
Let, with bold advent'rous skill,
Others thrid the polar sea;
Rear a pyramid who will;
Let the bold Adventurer thrid
In his bark the polar sea;
Rear who will a pyramid;
This may be an imperfect reminiscence of Comus, ll. 634-5.—Ed.
Barron Field asked Wordsworth to restore these lines of 1807, and Wordsworth promised to do so, but never did it.—Ed.
Note:
The following is an extract from Dorothy Wordsworth's Grasmere Journal. Saturday, May 1.
"A heavenly morning. We went into the garden, and sowed the scarlet beans about the house. It was a clear sky. I sowed the flowers, William helped me. We then went and sat in the orchard till dinner time. It was very hot. William wrote The Celandine (second part). We planned a shed, for the sun was too much for us."
Ed.
[Contents 1802]
[Main Contents]