Volume 2 — The Redbreast chasing the ButterflyA
Reading edition
The Redbreast chasing the ButterflyA
Composed April 18, 1802.—Published 1807
The Poem
[Observed, as described, in the then beautiful orchard, Town-end, Grasmere.—I. F.]
Included among the "Poems of the Fancy." In some editions this poem is assigned to the year 1806; but, in Dorothy Wordsworth's Journal the following occurs, under date "Sunday, 18th" (April 1802):
"A mild grey morning with rising vapours. We sate in the orchard. William wrote the poem on the Robin and the Butterfly.... W. met me at Rydal with the conclusion of the poem to the Robin. I read it to him in bed. We left out some lines."
Ed.
The Poem
text variant footnote line number
Art thou the bird whom Man loves best, The pious bird with the scarlet breast, Our little English Robin; The bird that comes about our doors When Autumn-winds are sobbing? Art thou the Peter of Norway Boors? Their Thomas in Finland, And Russia far inland? The bird, that by some name or other All men who know thee call their brother, The darling of children and men? Could Father Adam open his eyes And see this sight beneath the skies, He'd wish to close them again. —If the Butterfly knew but his friend, Hither his flight he would bend; And find his way to me, Under the branches of the tree: In and out, he darts about; Can this be the bird, to man so good, That, after their bewildering, Covered with leaves the little children, So painfully in the wood? What ailed thee, Robin, that thou could'st pursue A beautiful creature, That is gentle by nature? Beneath the summer sky From flower to flower let him fly; 'Tis all that he wishes to do. The cheerer Thou of our in-door sadness, He is the friend of our summer gladness: What hinders, then, that ye should be Playmates in the sunny weather, And fly about in the air together! His beautiful wings in crimson are drest, A crimson as bright as thine own: Would'st thou be happy in thy nest, O pious Bird! whom man loves best, Love him, or leave him alone! Contents 1802 Main Contents 1 2 3 4 5 B C 5 10 15 20 25 30 35
Variant 1:
1849
... whom ... 1807
... who ... 1827
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Variant 2:
1815
In and out, he darts about; His little heart is throbbing: Can this be the Bird, to man so good, Our consecrated Robin! That, after ... 1807
... Robin! Robin! His little heart is throbbing; Can this ... MS.
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Variant 3:
1832
Did cover ... 1807
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Variant 4:
1815
... Like thine own breast His beautiful wings in crimson are drest, As if he were bone of thy bone. MS.
Like the hues of thy breast His beautiful wings in crimson are drest, A brother he seems of thine own: 1807
... in the air together! His beautiful bosom is drest, In crimson as bright as thine own: 1832
The edition of 1836 resumes the text of 1815.
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Variant 5:
1836
If thou would'st be ... 1807
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Footnote A:
The title, in the editions 1807 to 1820, was The Redbreast and the Butterfly. In the editions 1827 to 1843 it was The Redbreast and Butterfly. The final title was given in 1845.—Ed.
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Footnote B:
Compare Cowley:
'And Robin Redbreasts whom men praise, For pious birds.'
Ed.
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Footnote C:
See
Paradise Lost
, book XI., where Adam points out to Eve the ominous sign of the Eagle chasing "two Birds of gayest plume," and the gentle Hart and Hind pursued by their enemy.—W. W. 1815.
The passage in book XI. of Paradise Lost includes lines 185-90.—Ed.
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Contents 1802 Main Contents