The Poem
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| The sun has long been set, The stars are out by twos and threes, The little birds are piping yet Among the bushes and trees; There's a cuckoo, and one or two thrushes, And a far-off wind that rushes, And a sound of water that gushes, And the cuckoo's sovereign cry Fills all the hollow of the sky. Who would go "parading" In London, "and masquerading," On such a night of June With that beautiful soft half-moon, And all these innocent blisses? On such a night as this is! [Note] [Contents 1802] [Main Contents] | [1] [2] | [B] | 5 10 15 |
| 1807 | |
| ... and the trees; | 1836 |
... and the trees;
The edition of 1837 returns to the text of 1807.
| 1835 | |
| And a noise of wind that rushes, With a noise of water that gushes; | 1807 |
And a noise of wind that rushes,
With a noise of water that gushes;
It appeared in 1807 as No. II. of "Moods of my own Mind," and not again till the publication of "Yarrow Revisited" in 1835.—Ed.
Compare:
'At operas and plays parading,
Mortgaging, gambling, masquerading.'
Burns, The Two Dogs, a Tale, II. 124-5.—Ed.
Note:
"June 8th (1802).—After tea William came out and walked, and wrote that poem, The sun has long been set, etc. He walked on our own path, and wrote the lines; he called me into the orchard and there repeated them to me."
(Dorothy Wordsworth's Journal.) The "Friend in whose presence the lines were thrown off," was his sister.—Ed.
[Contents 1802]
[Main Contents]