Note GJ — 1820
Reading edition
"This sonnet was probably written from some rare vantage ground or view as is obtained of the last reaches of the Duddon
In radiant progress toward the Deep,
from the crest of a hill immediately above Broughton.
I am led to think thus from the fact that standing there the poet could speak as he does in Sonnet XXXIV.—
For, backward, Duddon! as I cast my eyes, I see what was, and is, and will abide;
while the little Broughton Church with its dark yews close around it seen at his feet would naturally give birth to the thought that 'the elements must vanish,' and that as Duddon hurried to its pauseless sleep, so man to 'the silent tomb must go.'" (H. D. Rawnsley.)