The Poem
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A barking sound the Shepherd hears, A cry as of a dog or fox; He halts—and searches with his eyes Among the scattered rocks: And now at distance can discern A stirring in a brake of fern; And instantly a dog is seen, Glancing through that covert green. The Dog is not of mountain breed; Its motions, too, are wild and shy; With something, as the Shepherd thinks, Unusual in its cry: Nor is there any one in sight All round, in hollow or on height; Nor shout, nor whistle strikes his ear; What is the creature doing here? It was a cove, a huge recess, That keeps, till June, December's snow; A lofty precipice in front, A silent tarn below! Far in the bosom of Helvellyn, Remote from public road or dwelling, Pathway, or cultivated land; From trace of human foot or hand. There sometimes doth a leaping fish Send through the tarn a lonely cheer; The crags repeat the raven's croak, In symphony austere; Thither the rainbow comes—the cloud— And mists that spread the flying shroud; And sunbeams; and the sounding blast, That, if it could, would hurry past; But that enormous barrier holds it fast. Not free from boding thoughts, a while The Shepherd stood; then makes his way O'er rocks and stones, following the Dog As quickly as he may; Nor far had gone before he found A human skeleton on the ground; The appalled Discoverer with a sigh Looks round, to learn the history. From those abrupt and perilous rocks The Man had fallen, that place of fear! At length upon the Shepherd's mind It breaks, and all is clear: He instantly recalled the name, And who he was, and whence he came; Remembered, too, the very day On which the Traveller passed this way. But hear a wonder, for whose sake This lamentable tale I tell! A lasting monument of words This wonder merits well. The Dog, which still was hovering nigh, Repeating the same timid cry, This Dog, had been through three months' space A dweller in that savage place. Yes, proof was plain that, since the day When this ill-fated Traveller died, The Dog had watched about the spot, Or by his master's side: How nourished here through such long time He knows, who gave that love sublime; And gave that strength of feeling, great Above all human estimate! [Note] [Contents 1805] [Main Contents] | [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] | [A] / [B] [C] | 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 |
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| From which immediately leaps out A Dog, and yelping runs about. | 1807 |
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And instantly a Dog is seen, Glancing from that covert green. | 1815 |
From which immediately leaps out A Dog, and yelping runs about.
And instantly a Dog is seen,
Glancing from that covert green.
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| ... does ... | 1807 |
... does ...
| 1837 | |
| binds | 1807 |
binds
| 1815 | |
| Not knowing what to think | 1807 |
Not knowing what to think
| 1837 | |
| Towards the Dog, o'er rocks and stones, | 1807. |
Towards the Dog, o'er rocks and stones,
| 1815 | |
| Sad sight! the Shepherd with a sigh | 1807 |
Sad sight! the Shepherd with a sigh
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And signs and circumstances dawned Till everything was clear; He made discovery of his name. | MS. |
And signs and circumstances dawned
Till everything was clear;
He made discovery of his name.
| 1815 | |
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But hear a wonder now, for sake Of which this mournful Tale I tell! | 1807 |
But hear a wonder now, for sake
Of which this mournful Tale I tell!
| 1827 | |
| On which the Traveller thus had died | 1807 |
On which the Traveller thus had died
[Footnote A:] Tarn is a small Mere or Lake mostly high up in the mountains,—W. W.
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[Footnote B:] Compare the reference to Helvellyn, and its "deep coves, shaped by skeleton arms," in the Musings near Aquapendente (1837). Wordsworth here describes Red Tarn, under Helvellyn, to the east; but Charles Gough was killed on the Kepplecove side of Swirell Edge, and not at Red Tarn. Bishop Watson of Llandaff, writing to Hayley (see Anecdotes of the Life of Bishop Watson, p. 440), writes about Charles Gouche (evidently Gough). He had been lodging at "the Cherry Inn," near Wytheburn, sometime before his death.—Ed.
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[Footnote C:] Compare The Excursion, book iv. ll. 1185-94.—Ed.
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Note: Thomas Wilkinson—referred to in the notes to The Solitary Reaper, vol. ii. pp. 399, 400, and the verses To the Spade of a Friend, in vol. iv.—alludes to this incident at some length in his poem, Emont Vale. Wilkinson attended the funeral of young Gough, and writes of the incident with feeling, but without inspiration. Gough perished early in April, and his body was not found till July 22nd, 1805. A reference to his fate will be found in Lockhart's Life of Scott (vol. ii. p. 274); also in a letter of Mr. Luff of Patterdale, to his wife, July 23rd, 1805. Henry Crabb Robinson records (see his Diary, Reminiscences, etc., vol. ii. p. 25) a conversation with Wordsworth, in which he said of this poem, that "he purposely made the narrative as prosaic as possible, in order that no discredit might be thrown on the truth of the incident."—Ed.
[Contents 1805]
[Main Contents]