Note 495 — Chapter II · INDICATIONS OF A NEW ATTITUDE TOWARD NATURE IN THE POETRY OF THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY (continued 3)
Reading edition
“Task,” vi, 109; cf. ll. 84–117 of Wordsworth’s “The Tables Turned”:
Books! ’tis a dull and endless strife, **** Come forth into the light of things, Let Nature be your teacher. She has a world of ready wealth Our minds and hearts to bless. **** Sweet is the lore which Nature brings; Our meddling intellect Mis-shapes the beauteous forms of things.
See also, “To My Sister”:
One moment now may give us more Than years of toiling reason.