refore, as to
their form.

The strict rime movement of the octave a b b a a b b a is observed in
seven only of the present collection of twelve, namely, in the first
sonnet, the second, the third, the fifth, the sixth, the seventh, and the
eighth. The rime formula of the octave with which Wordsworth's name is
chiefly associated is a b b a a c c a. The sonnets in which this
additional rime is introduced are the fourth, the ninth, the tenth, the
eleventh and the twelfth.

As regards the transition from octave to sestet the following sonnets
observe the prescribed law, namely, the second, third, sixth, seventh,
and ninth. The seven remaining sonnets all show some irregularity in
this respect. The first sonnet (_Fair Star_) with its abrupt
_enjambement_ at the close of the octave, and the thought pause in the
body of the first line of the sestet, is a form much employed by Mrs.
Browning, but rigorously avoided by Dante Gabriel Rossetti with his more
scrupulous ideal of sonnet construction. This imperfect transition is
seen again in the fourth, fifth, eighth, tenth, eleventh, and twelfth
sonnets. Its boldness certainly amounts to a technical fault in the two
sonnets on _King's College Chapel_.

In the sestet we naturally expect and find much variety in the
disposition of the rimes. The conclusion of the last sonnet by a couplet
is most unusual in Wordsworth.

"IT IS NOT TO BE THOUGHT OF"

This sonnet was composed in September, 1802, first published in the
Morning Post in 1803, and subsequently in 1807.

WRITTEN IN LONDON, SEPTEMBER, 1802:

PUBLISHED 1807

"This was written immediately after my return from France to London, when
I could not but be struck, as here described, with the vanity and parade
of our own country, especially in great towns and cities, as contrasted
with the quiet, I may say the desolation, that the Revolution had
produced in France. This must be borne in mind, or else the Reader may
think that in this and the succeeding Sonnets I have exaggerated the
mischief engendered and fostered among us by undisturbed wealth."

LONDON, 1802

This sonnet was written in 1803 and published in 1807.

"DARK AND MORE DARK THE SHADES OF EVENING FELL"

This sonnet was written after a journey across the Hambleton Hills,
Yorkshire. Wordsworth says: "It was composed October 4th, 1802, after a
journey on a day memorable to me--the day of my marriage. The horizon
commanded by those hill