Analysis of Book Thirteenth [Imagination And Taste, How Impaired And Restored Concluded]

William Wordsworth 1770 (Wordsworth House) – 1850 (Cumberland)



FROM Nature doth emotion come, and moods
Of calmness equally are Nature's gift:
This is her glory; these two attributes
Are sister horns that constitute her strength.
Hence Genius, born to thrive by interchange
Of peace and excitation, finds in her
His best and purest friend; from her receives
That energy by which he seeks the truth,
From her that happy stillness of the mind
Which fits him to receive it when unsought.

Such benefit the humblest intellects
Partake of, each in their degree; 'tis mine
To speak, what I myself have known and felt;
Smooth task! for words find easy way, inspired
By gratitude, and confidence in truth.
Long time in search of knowledge did I range
The field of human life, in heart and mind
Benighted; but, the dawn beginning now
To re-appear, 'twas proved that not in vain
I had been taught to reverence a Power
That is the visible quality and shape
And image of right reason; that matures
Her processes by steadfast laws; gives birth
To no impatient or fallacious hopes,
No heat of passion or excessive zeal,
No vain conceits; provokes to no quick turns
Of self-applauding intellect; but trains
To meekness, and exalts by humble faith;
Holds up before the mind intoxicate
With present objects, and the busy dance
Of things that pass away, a temperate show
Of objects that endure; and by this course
Disposes her, when over-fondly set
On throwing off incumbrances, to seek
In man, and in the frame of social life,
Whate'er there is desirable and good
Of kindred permanence, unchanged in form
And function, or, through strict vicissitude
Of life and death, revolving. Above all
Were re-established now those watchful thoughts
Which, seeing little worthy or sublime
In what the Historian's pen so much delights
To blazon--power and energy detached
From moral purpose--early tutored me
To look with feelings of fraternal love
Upon the unassuming things that hold
A silent station in this beauteous world.

Thus moderated, thus composed, I found
Once more in Man an object of delight,
Of pure imagination, and of love;
And, as the horizon of my mind enlarged,
Again I took the intellectual eye
For my instructor, studious more to see
Great truths, than touch and handle little ones.
Knowledge was given accordingly; my trust
Became more firm in feelings that had stood
The test of such a trial; clearer far
My sense of excellence--of right and wrong:
The promise of the present time retired
Into its true proportion; sanguine schemes,
Ambitious projects, pleased me less; I sought
For present good in life's familiar face,
And built thereon my hopes of good to come.

With settling judgments now of what would last
And what would disappear; prepared to find
Presumption, folly, madness, in the men
Who thrust themselves upon the passive world
As Rulers of the world; to see in these,
Even when the public welfare is their aim,
Plans without thought, or built on theories
Vague and unsound; and having brought the books
Of modern statists to their proper test,
Life, human life, with all its sacred claims
Of sex and age, and heaven-descended rights,
Mortal, or those beyond the reach of death;
And having thus discerned how dire a thing
Is worshipped in that idol proudly named
'The Wealth of Nations,' 'where' alone that wealth
Is lodged, and how increased; and having gained
A more judicious knowledge of the worth
And dignity of individual man,
No composition of the brain, but man
Of whom we read, the man whom we behold
With our own eyes--I could not but inquire--
Not with less interest than heretofore,
But greater, though in spirit more subdued--
Why is this glorious creature to be found
One only in ten thousand? What one is,
Why may not millions be? What bars are thrown
By Nature in the way of such a hope?
Our animal appetites and daily wants,
Are these obstructions insurmountable?
If not, then others vanish into air.
'Inspect the basis of the social pile:
Inquire,' said I, 'how much of mental power
And genuine virtue they possess who live
By bodily toil, labour exceeding far
Their due proportion, under all the weight
Of that injustice which upon ourselves
Ourselves entail.' Such estimate to frame
I chiefly looked (what need to look beyond?)
Among the natural abodes of men,
Fields with their rural works; recalled to mind
My earliest notices; with these compared
The observations made in later youth,
And to that day continued.--For, the time
Had never been when throes of mighty Nations
A


Scheme XAXXBCXDEA XXXXDBEXXCXXFXXXXXGXXXXXXHXIXXJKXLMNO PXMXXLQXHRXXXXXX XESOTUTXXXKXXXXXFVVNXXIPXXXXXXXCXRGXUXSEXDJQX
Poetic Form
Metre 1101010101 1101001101 110101110 110111001 110111101 110010100 1101011001 1100111101 1011010101 111101111 1100010010 0111010111 111111101 11111101010 110010001 1101110111 0111010101 0101010101 1101111101 11111100010 11010010001 0101110101 010011111 1101010101 1111010101 111011111 110101011 110011101 110101010 1101000101 1111010101 1101010111 0100110101 1101111 0100011101 1011010001 1101000101 010111100 1101010011 0101011101 1101010101 010111101 1110010001 1101010101 1111010101 010010111 010100111 110010111 1101110101 110010011 01001011101 0111001001 11010100111 1111010101 10110010011 0111010111 0111010101 1111001101 0101010101 0111010101 0101011111 1101010101 0101111111 11001011111 011010111 0101010001 1101010101 1101011101 1010101111 101111110 1001010101 1101011101 1101111101 11010100101 1011010111 0101011101 1100110101 0111010111 1101010101 0101010101 0100101001 101010111 1111011101 11011111101 11110101 1101010101 11110010111 1100110111 1111011111 1100011101 10100100101 110100100 1111010011 0101010101 01111111010 01001010111 1100110101 1101010101 11010101001 00101110011 1101111101 010100111 1111010111 11001001101 001010101 0111010101 11011111010 0
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 4,340
Words 764
Sentences 17
Stanzas 4
Stanza Lengths 10, 37, 16, 45
Lines Amount 108
Letters per line (avg) 33
Words per line (avg) 7
Letters per stanza (avg) 884
Words per stanza (avg) 190
Font size:
 

Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 09, 2023

3:49 min read
164

William Wordsworth

William Wordsworth was the husband of Eva Bartok. more…

All William Wordsworth poems | William Wordsworth Books

53 fans

Discuss this William Wordsworth poem analysis with the community:

0 Comments

    Citation

    Use the citation below to add this poem analysis to your bibliography:

    Style:MLAChicagoAPA

    "Book Thirteenth [Imagination And Taste, How Impaired And Restored Concluded]" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 28 Mar. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/42158/book-thirteenth-%5Bimagination-and-taste%2C-how-impaired-and-restored-concluded%5D>.

    Become a member!

    Join our community of poets and poetry lovers to share your work and offer feedback and encouragement to writers all over the world!

    March 2024

    Poetry Contest

    Join our monthly contest for an opportunity to win cash prizes and attain global acclaim for your talent.
    3
    days
    13
    hours
    27
    minutes

    Special Program

    Earn Rewards!

    Unlock exciting rewards such as a free mug and free contest pass by commenting on fellow members' poems today!

    Browse Poetry.com

    Quiz

    Are you a poetry master?

    »
    I wandered lonely as a _______ that floats on high o'er vales and hills
    A flower
    B star
    C bird
    D cloud