Analysis of To William Wordsworth
Samuel Taylor Coleridge 1772 (Ottery St Mary) – 1834 (Highgate)
Friend of the Wise ! and Teacher of the Good !
Into my heart have I received that Lay
More than historic, that prophetic Lay
Wherein (high theme by thee first sung aright)
Of the foundations and the building up
Of a Human Spirit thou hast dared to tell
What may be told, to the understanding mind
Revealable ; and what within the mind
By vital breathings secret as the soul
Of vernal growth, oft quickens in the heart
Thoughts all too deep for words !--
Theme hard as high !
Of smiles spontaneous, and mysterious fears
(The first-born they of Reason and twin-birth),
Of tides obedient to external force,
And currents self-determined, as might seem,
Or by some inner Power ; of moments awful,
Now in thy inner life, and now abroad,
When power streamed from thee, and thy soul received
The light reflected, as a light bestowed--
Of fancies fair, and milder hours of youth,
Hyblean murmurs of poetic thought
Industrious in its joy, in vales and glens
Native or outland, lakes and famous hills !
Or on the lonely high-road, when the stars
Were rising ; or by secret mountain-streams,
The guides and the companions of thy way !
Of more than Fancy, of the Social Sense
Distending wide, and man beloved as man,
Where France in all her towns lay vibrating
Like some becalméd bark beneath the burst
Of Heaven's immediate thunder, when no cloud
Is visible, or shadow on the main.
For thou wert there, thine own brows garlanded,
Amid the tremor of a realm aglow,
Amid the mighty nation jubilant,
When from the general heart of human kind
Hope sprang forth like a full-born Diety !
--Of that dear Hope afflicted and struck down,
So summoned homeward, thenceforth calm and sure
From the dread watch-tower of man's absolute self,
With light unwaning on her eyes, to look
Far on--herself a glory to behold,
The Angel of the vision ! Then (last strain)
Of Duty, chosen Laws controlling choice,
Action and Joy !--An Orphic song indeed,
A song divine of high and passionate thoughts
To their own music chaunted !
O great Bard !
Ere yet that last strain dying awed the air,
With stedfast eye I viewed thee in the choir
Of ever-enduring men. The truly great
Have all one age, and from one visible space
Shed influence ! They, both in power and act,
Are permanent, and Time is not with them,
Save as it worketh for them, they in it.
Nor less a sacred Roll, than those of old,
And to be placed, as they, with gradual fame
Among the archives of mankind, thy work
Makes audible a linkéd lay of Truth,
Of Truth profound a sweet continuous lay,
Not learnt, but native, her own natural notes !
Ah ! as I listened with a heart forlorn,
The pulses of my being beat anew :
And even as Life returns upon the drowned,
Life's joy rekindling roused a throng of pains--
Keen pangs of Love, awakening as a babe
Turbulent, with an outcry in the heart ;
And Fears self-willed, that shunned the eye of Hope ;
And Hope that scarce would know itself from Fear ;
Sense of past Youth, and Manhood come in vain,
And Genius given, and Knowledge won in vain ;
And all which I had culled in wood-walks wild,
And all which patient toil had reared, and all,
Commune with thee had opened out--but flowers
Strewed on my corse, and borne upon my bier,
In the same coffin, for the self-same grave !
That way no more ! and ill beseems it me,
Who came a welcomer in herald's guise,
Singing of Glory, and Futurity,
To wander back on such unhealthful road,
Plucking the poisons of self-harm ! And ill
Such intertwine beseems triumphal wreaths
Strew'd before thy advancing !
Nor do thou,
Sage Bard ! impair the memory of that hour
Of thy communion with my nobler mind
By pity or grief, already felt too long !
Nor let my words import more blame than needs.
The tumult rose and ceased : for Peace is nigh
Where Wisdom's voice has found a listening heart.
Amid the howl of more than wintry storms,
The Halcyon hears the voice of vernal hours
Already on the wing.
Eve following eve,
Dear tranquil time, when the sweet sense of Home
Is sweetest ! moments for their own sake hailed
And more desired, more precious, for thy song,
In silence listening, like a devout child,
My soul lay passive, by thy various strain
Driven as in surges now beneath the stars,
With momentary stars of my own birth,
Fair constellated foam, still darting off
Into the darkness ; now a tranquil sea,
Outspread and bright, yet swelling to the moon.
And when--O Friend ! my comforter and guide
Scheme | ABBAXXCCXDX EXFXXXXXGHXXXIXB XXJXXKAXXCAXXXXLKXXXA XXMXXXXXLXXHBXXXXXXDXXKKNXOXX PXAGXXJ XMCQXEDXOJ XXXQNKIFXPX X |
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Poetic Form | |
Metre | 1101010101 0111110111 1101010101 011111111 1001000101 10101011111 1111100101 1010101 110110101 1101110001 111111 1111 110100001001 0111110011 11010010101 0101010111 111101011010 1011010101 11011101101 0101010101 11010101011 11010101 01000110101 101110101 1101011101 0101110101 0100010111 1111010101 11010111 1101011100 1101110101 110010010111 110011101 11111111 0101010101 0101010100 11010011101 11110111 1111010011 110101101 10111011101 11110111 1101010101 0101010111 1101010101 1001110101 01011101001 111101 111 1111110101 1111110010 11001010101 11110111001 11001101001 1100011111 111111101 1101011111 01111111001 010111111 1100011111 11010101001 11110011001 1111010101 0101110101 01011010101 1101010111 11110100101 100111001 0111110111 0111110111 111101101 01010010101 0111110111 0111011101 10111101110 1111010111 0011010111 111101111 11010101 1011001 1101110101 1001011101 100110101 1011010 111 110101001110 1101011101 11011010111 1111011111 0101011111 1111101001 0101111101 010010111010 010101 11001 1101101111 1101011111 01010110111 01010010011 11110111001 10101010101 110011111 1111101 0101010101 101110101 0111110001 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 4,330 |
Words | 777 |
Sentences | 30 |
Stanzas | 8 |
Stanza Lengths | 11, 16, 21, 29, 7, 10, 11, 1 |
Lines Amount | 106 |
Letters per line (avg) | 32 |
Words per line (avg) | 8 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 429 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 101 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on April 26, 2023
- 3:55 min read
- 340 Views
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"To William Wordsworth" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 29 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/34395/to-william-wordsworth>.
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