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Ernest De Selincourt (ed.), The Poetical Works of William Wordsworth, Vol. 2: Poems Founded on the Affections; Poems on the Naming of Places; Poems of the Fancy; Poems of the Imagination (Second Edition)
Main Text
Editor’s NoteCritical ApparatusEditor’s NoteCritical ApparatusXXVTHE COTTAGER TO HER INFANTby my sister
[Composed 1805.—Published 1815.]
- 1The days are cold, the nights are long,
- 2The north-wind sings a doleful song;
- 3Then hush again upon my breast;
- 4All merry things are now at rest,
- 5Save thee, my pretty Love!
- 6The kitten sleeps upon the hearth,
- 7The crickets long have ceased their mirth;
- 8There's nothing stirring in the house
- 9Save one wee, hungry, nibbling mouse,
- 10Then why so busy thou?
- 11Nay! start not at that sparkling light:
- 12'Tis but the moon that shines so bright
- 13On the window pane bedropped with rain:
- 14Then, little Darling! sleep again,
- 15And wake when it is day.
Critical Apparatus
XXV. MY SISTER 1845: A FEMALE FRIEND 1815–36
15 To D. W.'s poem W. W. added the following 2 stanzas:
- All! 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 chear.
- But, babe, there's none to work for me,
- And I must rise to industry;
- Soon as the cock begin to crow
- Thy mother to the fold must go
- To tend the sheep and kine. MS.
Editor’s Note
p. 50. XXV. The Cottager to her Infant. "(by my sister). Suggested to her while beside my sleeping children."—I. F.
