DECAY OF PIETY
Composed 1827.—Published 1827
[Attendance at church on prayer-days, Wednesdays and Fridays and Holidays, received a shock at the Revolution. It is now, however, happily reviving. The ancient people described in this Sonnet were among the last of that pious class. May we hope that the practice, now in some degree renewed, will continue to spread.—I. F.]
One of the "Miscellaneous Sonnets."—Ed.
Oft have I seen, ere Time had ploughed my cheek,
Matrons and Sires—who, punctual to the call
Of their loved Church, on fast or festival
Through the long year the House of Prayer would seek:
By Christmas snows, by visitation bleak 5
Of Easter winds, unscared, from hut or hall
They came to lowly bench or sculptured stall,
But with one fervour of devotion meek.
I see the places where they once were known,
And ask, surrounded even by kneeling crowds, 10
Is ancient Piety for ever flown?
Alas! even then they seemed like fleecy clouds
That, struggling through the western sky, have won
Their pensive light from a departed sun!
["SCORN NOT THE SONNET; CRITIC, YOU HAVE FROWNED"]
Composed 1827.—Published 1827
[Composed, almost extempore, in a short walk on the western side of Rydal Lake.—I. F.]
One of the "Miscellaneous Sonnets."—Ed.
Scorn not the Sonnet; Critic, you have frowned,
Mindless of its just honours; with this key
Shakspeare unlocked his heart;[462] the melody
Of this small lute gave ease to Petrarch's wound;[463]
A thousand times this pipe did Tasso sound;[464] 5
With it Camöens soothed[465] an exile's grief;[466]
The Sonnet glittered a gay myrtle leaf
Amid the cypress with which Dante[467] crowned
His visionary brow: a glow-worm lamp,
It cheered mild Spenser, called from Faery-land 10
To struggle through dark ways;[468] and, when a damp
Fell round the path of Milton, in his hand
The Thing became a trumpet;[469] whence he blew
Soul-animating strains—alas, too few![470]
FOOTNOTES:
[462] Shakespeare's sonnets are autobiographical: compare Nos. 24, 30, 39, 105, 116.—Ed.
[463] Petrarch's were all inspired by his devotion to Laura.—Ed.
[464] Tasso's works include two volumes of sonnets, first published in 1581 and 1592.—Ed.
[465] 1837.
Camöens soothed with it ... 1827.
[466] For his satire Disparates na India, Camöens was banished to Macao in 1556, where he wrote the Os Lusiadas, also many sonnets and lyric poems.—Ed.
[467] Compare the Vita Nuova, passim.—Ed.
[468] Spenser wrote ninety-two sonnets. From the eightieth sonnet it would seem that the writing of them was a relaxation, after the labour spent upon the Faërie Queene. It is to this sonnet that Wordsworth alludes.
After so long a race as I have run
Through Faery land, which these six books compile,
Give leave to rest me, being half foredone,
And gather to myself new breath awhile.—Ed.
[469] Milton's twenty-three sonnets were written partly in English, partly in Italian. Compare Wordsworth's sonnet, addressed to him in 1802, beginning:—
Milton, thou should'st be living at this hour.—Ed.
[470] Compare the sonnet beginning—
Nuns fret not at their convent's narrow room.—Ed.
["FAIR PRIME OF LIFE! WERE IT ENOUGH TO GILD"]
Composed 1827.—Published 1827
[Suggested by observation of the way in which a young friend, whom I do not choose to name, misspent his time and misapplied his talents. He took afterwards a better course, and became a useful member of society, respected, I believe, wherever he has been known.—I. F.]
One of the "Miscellaneous Sonnets."—Ed.
Fair Prime of life! were it enough to gild
With ready sunbeams every straggling shower;
And, if an unexpected cloud should lower,
Swiftly thereon a rainbow arch to build
For Fancy's errands,—then, from fields half-tilled 5
Gathering green weeds to mix with poppy flower,
Thee might thy Minions crown, and chant thy power,
Unpitied by the wise, all censure stilled.
Ah! show that worthier honours are thy due;
Fair Prime of life! arouse the deeper heart; 10
Confirm the Spirit glorying to pursue
Some path of steep ascent and lofty aim;
And, if there be a joy that slights the claim
Of grateful memory, bid that joy depart.