Volume 8 — 1805
Reading edition
“PEACEFUL OUR VALLEY, FAIR AND GREEN”
This is extracted from a copy of an appendix to Recollections of a Tour in Scotland by Dorothy Wordsworth, written by Mrs. Clarkson, September-November 1805. It was composed by the poet’s sister. In February 1892 it was published in The Monthly Packet under the title “Grasmere: a Fragment,” and with the signature “Rydal Mount, September 26, 1829.” It is now printed from the MS. of 1805.—Ed.
Peaceful our valley, fair and green; And beautiful the cottages Each in its nook, its sheltered hold, Or underneath its tuft of trees. Many and beautiful they are; 5 But there is one that I love best, A lowly roof in truth it is, A brother of the rest. Yet when I sit on rock or hill Down-looking on the valley fair, 10 That cottage with its grove of trees Summons my heart; it settles there. Others there are whose small domain Of fertile fields with hedgerows green Might more seduce the traveller’s mind 15 To wish that there his home had been. Such wish be his! I blame him not, My fancies they, perchance, are wild; I love that house because it is The very mountain’s child. 20 Fields hath it of its own, green fields; But they are craggy, steep, and bare; Their fence is of the mountain stone, And moss and lichen flourish there. And when the storm comes from the North 25 It lingers near that pastoral spot, And piping through the mossy walls, It seems delighted with its lot. And let it take its own delight, And let it range the pastures bare 30 Until it reach that grove of trees ——It may not enter there! A green unfading grove it is, Skirted with many a lesser tree, Hazel and holly, beech and oak, 35 A fair and flourishing company! Precious the shelter of those trees! They screen the cottage that I love; The sunshine pierces to the roof And the tall pine trees tower above. 40 When first I saw that dear abode It was a lovely winter’s day: After a night of perilous storm The West wind ruled with gentle sway; A day so mild, it might have been 45 The first day of the gladsome spring; The robins warbled; and I heard One solitary throstle sing: A stranger in the neighbourhood, All faces then to me unknown, 50 I left my sole companion-friend To wander out alone. Lur’d by a little winding path, I quitted soon the public road, A smooth and tempting path it was 55 By sheep and shepherds trod. Eastward, toward the mighty hills This pathway led me on, Until I reach’d a lofty Rock With velvet moss o’ergrown. 60 With russet Oak and tufts of Fern Its top was richly garlanded; Its sides adorn’d with Eglantine Bedropp’d with hips of glossy red. There too in many a shelter’d chink 65 The foxglove’s broad leaves flourish’d fair, And silver birch whose purple twigs Bend to the softest breathing air. Beneath that rock my course I stay’d And, looking to its summit high, 70 “Thou wear’st,” said I, “a splendid garb, Here winter keeps his revelry. “I’ve been a dweller on the plains, Have sigh’d when summer days were gone; No more I’ll sigh; for winter here 75 Hath gladsome gardens of his own. “What need of flowers? The splendid moss Is gayer than an April mead; More rich its hues of various green, Orange and gold and glowing red.” 80 ——Beside that gay and lovely rock There came with merry voice A foaming streamlet glancing by, It seem’d to say “Rejoice!” My youthful wishes all fulfill’d, 85 Wishes matured by thoughtful choice, I stood an Inmate of this vale, How could I but rejoice?
“AH! IF I WERE A LADY GAY”
The following two stanzas were added by Wordsworth to his sister’s poem, entitled The Cottager to her Infant—composed in 1805, and issued in 1815 (see vol. iii. pp. 74, 75); but they were never published in Wordsworth’s lifetime.—Ed.
Ah! if I were a lady gay I should not grieve with thee to play; Right gladly would I lie awake Thy lively spirits to partake, And ask no better cheer. 5 But, Babe! there’s none to work for me, And I must rise to industry; Soon as the cock begins to crow Thy mother to the fold must go To tend the sheep and kine. 10