Though in these occupations they would pass
Whole hours, etc.
as printed above.
Dorothy Wordsworth adds, “Tell whether you think the insertion of these lines an improvement.”—Ed.
[355] An erased version.—Ed.
1802
“AMONG ALL LOVELY THINGS MY LOVE HAD BEEN”
Composed April 12, 1802.—Published 1807
This poem—known in the Wordsworth household as The Glowworm—was written on the 12th of April 1802, during a ride from Middleham to Barnard Castle, and was published in the edition of 1807. It was never reproduced. The “Lucy” of this and other poems was his sister Dorothy. In a letter to Coleridge, written in April 1802, he thus refers to the poem, and to the incident which gave rise to it:—“I parted from M—— on Monday afternoon, about six o’clock, a little on this side Rushyford. Soon after I missed my road in the midst of the storm.… Between the beginning of Lord Darlington’s park at Raby, and two or three miles beyond Staindrop, I composed the poem the opposite page. I reached Barnard Castle about half-past ten.… The incident of this poem took place about seven years ago between my sister and me.”