The Poem

text variant footnote line number
Stern Daughter of the Voice of God!
O Duty! if that name thou love
Who art a light to guide, a rod
To check the erring, and reprove;
Thou, who art victory and law
When empty terrors overawe;
From vain temptations dost set free;
And calm'st the weary strife of frail humanity!
There are who ask not if thine eye
Be on them; who, in love and truth,
Where no misgiving is, rely
Upon the genial sense of youth:
Glad Hearts! without reproach or blot;
Who do thy work, and know it not:
Oh, if through confidence misplaced
They fail, thy saving arms, dread Power! around them cast.
Serene will be our days and bright,
And happy will our nature be,
When love is an unerring light,
And joy its own security.
And they a blissful course may hold
Even now, who, not unwisely bold,
Live in the spirit of this creed;
Yet seek thy firm support, according to their need.
I, loving freedom, and untried;
No sport of every random gust,
Yet being to myself a guide,
Too blindly have reposed my trust:
And oft, when in my heart was heard
Thy timely mandate, I deferred
The task, in smoother walks to stray;
But thee I now would serve more strictly, if I may.
Through no disturbance of my soul,
Or strong compunction in me wrought,
I supplicate for thy control;
But in the quietness of thought:
Me this unchartered freedom tires;
I feel the weight of chance-desires:
My hopes no more must change their name,
I long for a repose that ever is the same.

Stern Lawgiver! yet thou dost wear
The Godhead's most benignant grace;
Nor know we any thing so fair
As is the smile upon thy face:
Flowers laugh before thee on their beds
And fragrance in thy footing treads;
Thou dost preserve the stars from wrong;
And the most ancient heavens, through Thee, are fresh and strong.
To humbler functions, awful Power!
I call thee: I myself commend
Unto thy guidance from this hour;
Oh, let my weakness have an end!
Give unto me, made lowly wise,
The spirit of self-sacrifice;
The confidence of reason give;
And in the light of truth thy Bondman let me live!



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[Variant 1:]

1815
From strife and from despair; a glorious ministry. 1807

From strife and from despair; a glorious ministry.

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[Variant 2:]

date
... the right ... MS.
... thy will ... MS.

... the right ...

... thy will ...

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[Variant 3:]

1837
May joy be theirs while life shall last!
And Thou, if they should totter, teach them to stand fast!
1807
Long may the kindly impulse last!
But Thou, ... 		1827
And may that genial sense remain, when youth is past. MS.

May joy be theirs while life shall last!
And Thou, if they should totter, teach them to stand fast!

Long may the kindly impulse last!
But Thou, ...

And may that genial sense remain, when youth is past.

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[Variant 4:]

1827
And bless'd are they who in the main
This faith, even now, do entertain:
1807
Even now this creed do entertain MS.
This holy creed do entertain MS.

And bless'd are they who in the main
This faith, even now, do entertain:

Even now this creed do entertain

This holy creed do entertain

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[Variant 5:]

1845
Yet find that other strength, ... 1807
Yet find thy firm support, ... 1837

Yet find that other strength, ...

Yet find thy firm support, ...

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[Variant 6:]

1827
Resolved that nothing e'er should press
Upon my present happiness,
I shoved unwelcome tasks away;

1807
Full oft, when in my heart was heard
Thy timely mandate, I deferred
The task imposed, from day to day;

1815

Resolved that nothing e'er should press
Upon my present happiness,
I shoved unwelcome tasks away;

Full oft, when in my heart was heard
Thy timely mandate, I deferred
The task imposed, from day to day;

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[Variant 7:]

But henceforth I would ... MS.

But henceforth I would ...

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[Variant 8:]

1827
... which ... 1807

... which ...

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[Variant 9:]

date
Yet not the less would I throughout
Still act according to the voice
Of my own wish; and feel past doubt
That my submissiveness was choice:
Not seeking in the school of pride
For "precepts over dignified,"
Denial and restraint I prize
No farther than they breed a second Will more wise.






Only in the edition of 1807.

Yet not the less would I throughout
Still act according to the voice
Of my own wish; and feel past doubt
That my submissiveness was choice:
Not seeking in the school of pride
For "precepts over dignified,"
Denial and restraint I prize
No farther than they breed a second Will more wise.

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[Variant 10:]

... more ... MS.

... more ...

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[Footnote A:] This motto was added in the edition of 1837.—Ed.
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[Footnote B:] Compare S. T. C. in The Friend (edition 1818, vol. iii. p. 62),

"Its instinct, its safety, its benefit, its glory is to love, to admire, to feel, and to labour."

Ed.
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[Footnote C:] Compare Churchill's Gotham, i. 49:

'An Englishman in chartered freedom born.'

Ed.
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[Footnote D:] Compare in Sartor Resartus,

"Happy he for whom a kind of heavenly sun brightens it [Necessity] into a ring of Duty, and plays round it with beautiful prismatic refractions."

Ed.
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[Footnote E:] Compare Persius, Satura, ii. l. 38:

'Quidquic calcaverit hic, rosa fiat.'

And Ben Jonson, in The Sad Shepherd, act I. scene i. ll. 8, 9:

'And where she went, the flowers took thickest root,
As she had sow'd them with her odorous foot.'

Also, a similar reference to Aphrodite in Hesiod, Theogony, vv. 192 seq.—Ed.
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[Footnote F:] Compare S. T. C. in The Friend (edition 1818), vol. iii. p. 64.—Ed.
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[Footnote G:] In the original MS. sent to the printer, I find that this stanza was transcribed by Coleridge.—Ed.
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Note: Mr. J. R. Tutin has supplied me with the text of a proof copy of the sheets of the edition of 1807, which was cancelled by Wordsworth, in which the following stanzas take the place of the first four of that edition:

'There are who tread a blameless way
In purity, and love, and truth,
Though resting on no better stay
Than on the genial sense of youth:
Glad Hearts! without reproach or blot;
Who do the right, and know it not:
May joy be theirs while life shall last
And may a genial sense remain, when youth is past.
Serene would be our days and bright;
And happy would our nature be;
If Love were an unerring light;
And Joy its own security.
And bless'd are they who in the main,
This creed, even now, do entertain,
Do in this spirit live; yet know
That Man hath other hopes; strength which elsewhere must grow.
I, loving freedom, and untried;
No sport of every random gust,
Yet being to myself a guide,
Too blindly have reposed my trust;
Resolv'd that nothing e'er should press
Upon my present happiness,
I shov'd unwelcome tasks away:
But henceforth I would serve; and strictly if I may.
O [Power] of Duty! sent from God
To enforce on earth his high behest,
And keep us faithful to the road
Which conscience hath pronounc'd the best:
Thou, who art Victory and Law
When empty terrors overawe;
From vain temptations dost set free,
From Strife, and from Despair, a glorious Ministry![G]'

Ed.

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