1809.

... valley ... The Prelude', 1850.]

[Variant 4:

1836.

... I homeward went 1809.]

[Variant 5:

1845.

'Twas mine among the fields ... 1809.]

[Variant 6:

1809.

... blazed through twilight gloom, 'The Prelude', 1850.]

[Variant 7:

1815.

... to me 1809.]

[Variant 8:

1827.

... car'd not for its home--... 1809.

... cares not ... 1815.]

[Variant 9:

1840.

... loud bellowing ... 1809.]

[Variant 10:

1836.

Meanwhile ... 1809.]

[Variant 11:

1845.

... while the distant hills 1809.]

[Variant 12:

1827.

To cut across the image ... 1809.

To cross the bright reflection ... 1820.]

[Variant 13:

1820.

That gleam'd upon the ice; and oftentimes 1809.

(This line occupied the place of lines 51-52 of the final text.)

That fled, and, flying still before me, gleamed
Upon the glassy plain; and oftentimes, 'The Prelude', 1850.]

[Variant 14:

1809.

... as a dreamless sleep. 'The Prelude', 1850.]

* * * * *

FOOTNOTES ON THE TEXT

[Footnote A: The title of the fragment, as it appeared in 'The Friend',
No. 19, (Dec. 28, 1809,) was 'Growth of Genius from the Influences of
Natural Objects on the Imagination, in Boyhood and Early Youth'. It
first appeared in Wordsworth's Poems in the edition of 1815. It was
afterwards included in the first book of 'The Prelude', l. 401.

The lake referred to with its "silent bays" and "shadowy banks" is that
of Esthwaite; the village clock is that of Hawkshead (see the footnotes
to 'The Prelude'). The only physical accomplishment in which Wordsworth
thought he excelled was skating, an accomplishment in which his brother
poet and acquaintance, Klopstock, also excelled.--Ed.]

* * * * *

THE SIMPLON PASS [A]

Composed 1799.--Published 1845

Included among the "Poems of the Imagination."--Ed.

--Brook and road
Were fellow-travellers in this gloomy Pass, [1]
And with them did we journey several hours
At a slow step. [2] The immeasurable height
Of woods decaying, never to be decayed, 5
The stationary blasts of waterfalls,
And in the narrow rent, at every turn,
Winds thwarting winds bewildered and forlorn,
The torrents shooting from the clear blue sky,
The rocks th