"AERIAL ROCK—WHOSE SOLITARY BROW"
Composed 1819.—Published 1819
[A projecting point of Loughrigg, nearly in front of Rydal Mount. Thence looking at it, you are struck with the boldness of its aspect; but walking under it, you admire the beauty of its details. It is vulgarly called Holme-scar, probably from the insulated pasture by the waterside below it.—I. F.]
One of the "Miscellaneous Sonnets."—Ed.
Aerial Rock—whose solitary brow
From this low threshold daily meets my sight;
When I step[360] forth to hail the morning light;
Or quit the stars with a lingering farewell—how[361]
Shall Fancy pay to thee a grateful vow?
How, with the Muse's aid, her love attest?
—By planting on thy naked head the crest[362]
Of an imperial Castle, which the plough
Of ruin shall not touch. Innocent scheme!
That doth presume no more than to supply
A grace the sinuous vale and roaring stream
Want, through neglect of hoar Antiquity.
Rise, then, ye votive Towers! and catch a gleam
Of golden sunset, ere it fade and die.
Compare the sonnet No. XXVII. of the Duddon Series, beginning "Fallen, and diffused into a shapeless heap," as it was evidently written with reference to the old (traditional) Hall of Rydal. If an
. . . embattled House, whose massy Keep
Flung from yon cliff a shadow large and cold,
stood in "the sinuous vale" of Rydal, there was no "neglect of hoar Antiquity."—Ed.
VARIANTS:
[360] 1827.
1819.
. . . look . . .
[361] 1837.
1819.
. . . with lingering farewell—how
[362] 1827.
Shall I discharge to thee a grateful vow?—
By planting on thy head (in verse, at least,
As I have often done in thought) the crest