[Variant 5:]

1842
... gentleness, ... 1841

... gentleness, ...

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[Footnote A:]

The following extracts from Dorothy Wordsworth's Journal show the date of the composition of this poem.

"Sunday, 6th December 1801. A very fine beautiful sun-shiny morning. William worked a while at Chaucer; then he set forward to walk into Easdale.... In the afternoon I read Chaucer aloud."
"Monday, 7th.... William at work with Chaucer, The God of Love...."
"8th November ... William worked at The Cuckoo and the Nightingale till he was tired."
"Wednesday, December 9th. I read Palemon and Arcite, William writing out his alterations of Chaucer's Cuckoo and Nightingale."

The question as to whether The Cuckoo and the Nightingale was written by Chaucer or not, may be solved either way without affecting the literary value of Wordsworth's "modernisation" of it.—Ed.

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