horn,
  The pack loud-chiming, and the hunted hare.
  So through the darkness and the cold we flew,
  And not a voice was idle; with the din
  Smitten, the precipices rang aloud; 40
  The leafless trees and every icy crag
  Tinkled like iron; while far-distant hills
  Into the tumult sent an alien sound
  Of melancholy, not unnoticed, while the stars,
  Eastward, were sparkling clear, and in the west 45
  The orange sky of evening died away.

  Not seldom from the uproar I retired
  Into a silent bay, or sportively
  Glanced sideway, leaving the tumultuous throng,
  To cut across the reflex of a star; 50
  Image, that, flying still before me, gleamed
  Upon the glassy plain; and oftentimes,
  When we had given our bodies to the wind,
  And all the shadowy banks on either side
  Came sweeping through the darkness, spinning still 55
  The rapid line of motion, then at once
  Have I, reclining back upon my heels,
  Stopped short, yet still the solitary cliffs
  Wheeled by me—even as if the earth had rolled
  With visible motion her diurnal round! 60
  Behind me did they stretch in solemn train,
  Feebler and feebler, and I stood and watched
  Till all was tranquil as a summer sea.

1-14. In what other poems does Wordsworth describe "the education of nature?"

8. Nature's teaching is never sordid nor mercenary, but always purifying and ennobling.

10. PURIFYING, also SANCTIFYING (l. 12), refer to "Soul" (l. 2).

12-14. Human cares are lightened in proportion to our power of sympathising with nature. The very beatings of our heart acquire a certain grandeur from the fact that they are a process of nature and linked thus to the general life of things. It is possible that "beatings of the heart" may figuratively represent the mere play of the emotions, and thus have a bearing upon the words "pain and fear" in line 13.

15. FELLOWSHIP. Communion with nature in her varying aspects as described in the following lines.

31. VILLAGE CLOCK. The village was Hawkshead.

35. CONFEDERATE. Qualifies "we," or "games." Point out the different shades of meaning for each agreement.

42. TINKLED LIKE IRON. "When very many are skating together, the sounds and the noises give an impulse to the icy trees, and the woods all round the lake tinkle." S. T. Coleridge in The Friend, ii, 325 (1818).

42-44. The keenness of Wordsworth's sense perceptions was very remarkable. His susceptibility to impressions of sound is well illustrated in this passage, which closes (l. 43-46) with a color picture of striking beauty and appropriateness.

50. REFLEX=reflection. Cf.:

        Like the reflex of the moon
        Seen in a wave under green leaves.
                   Shelley, Prometheus Unbound, iii, 4.

In later editions Wordsworth altered these lines as follows:

To cut across the image. 1809. To cross the bright reflection. 1820.

54-60. The effect of rapid motion is admirably described. The spinning effect which Wordsworth evidently has in mind we have all noticed in the fields which seem to revolve when viewed from a swiftly moving: train. However, a skater from the low level of a stream would see only the fringe of trees sweep past him. The darkness and the height of the banks would not permit him to see the relatively motionless objects in the distance in either hand.

57-58. This method of stopping short upon one's heels might prove disastrous.

58-60. The effect of motion persists after the motion has ceased.

62 63. The apparent motion of the cliffs grows feebler by degrees until "all was tranquil as a summer sea." In The [Transcriber's note: the rest of this footnote is missing from the original book because of a printing error.]

TO THE REV. DR. WORDSWORTH

(WITH THE SONNETS TO THE RIVER DUDDON, AND OTHER POEMS IN THIS COLLECTION, 1820).

  The minstrels played their Christmas tune
  To-night beneath my cottage-eaves;
  While, smitten by a lofty moon,
  The encircling laurels, thick with leaves,
  Gave back a rich and dazzling sheen, 5
  That overpowered their natural green.

  Through hill and valley every breeze
  Had sunk to rest with folded wings;
  Keen was the air, but could not freeze,
  Nor check, the music of the strings; 10
  So stout and hardy were the band
  That scraped the chords with strenuous hand:

  And who but listened?—till was paid
  Respect to every Inmate's claim:
  The greeting given, the music played, 15
  In honor of each household name,
  Duly pronounced with lusty call,
  And "Merry Christmas" wished to all!

  O Brother! I revere the choice
  That took thee from thy native hills; 20
  And it is given thee to rejoice:
  Though public care full often tills
  (Heaven only witness of the toil)
  A barren and ungrateful soil.

  Yet, would that Thou, with me and mine, 25
  Hadst heard this never-failing rite;
  And seen on other faces shine
  A true revival of the light
  Which Nature and these rustic Powers,
  In simple childhood, spread through ours! 30

  For pleasure hath not ceased to wait
  On these expected annual rounds;
  Whether the rich man's sumptuous gate
  Call forth the unelaborate sounds,
  Or they are offered at the door 35
  That guards the lowliest of the poor.

  How touching, when, at midnight, sweep
  Snow-muffled winds, and all is dark
  To hear—and sink again-to sleep
  Or, at an earlier call, to mark, 40
  By blazing fire, the still suspense
  Of self-complacent innocence;

  The mutual nod,—the grave disguise
  Of hearts with gladness brimming o'er;
  And some unbidden tears that rise 45
  For names once heard, and heard no more;
  Tears brightened by the serenade
  For infant in the cradle laid.

  Ah! not for emerald fields alone,
  With ambient streams more pure and bright 50
  Than fabled Cytherea's zone
  Glittering before the Thunderer's sight,
  Is to my heart of hearts endeared
  The ground where we were born and reared!

  Hail, ancient Manners! sure defence, 55
  Where they survive, of wholesome laws;
  Remnants of love whose modest sense
  Thus into narrow room withdraws;
  Hail, Usages of pristine mould,
  And ye that guard them, Mountains old! 60

  Bear with me, Brother! quench the thought
  That slights this passion, or condemns;
  If thee fond Fancy ever brought
  From the proud margin of the Thames,
  And Lambeth's venerable towers,