Jump to chapter
Helen Darbishire and Ernest De Selincourt (eds), The Poetical Works of William Wordsworth, Vol. 4: Evening Voluntaries; Itinerary Poems of 1833; Poems of Sentiment and Reflection; Sonnets Dedicated to Liberty and Order; Miscellaneous Poems; Inscriptions; Selections From Chaucer; Poems Referring to the Period of Old Age; Epitaphs and Elegiac Pieces; Ode-Intimations of Immortality (Second Edition)
Main Text
Editor’s NoteEditor’s NoteXLVIIto cordelia m—————Hallsteads, Ullswater.
- 1Not in the mines beyond the western main,
- Critical Apparatus2You say, Cordelia, was the metal sought,
- 3Which a fine skill, of Indian growth, has wrought
- 4Into this flexible yet faithful Chain;
- Critical Apparatus5Nor is it silver of romantic Spain;
- 6But from our loved Helvellyn's depths was brought,
- 7Our own domestic mountain. Thing and thought
- 8Mix strangely; trifles light, and partly vain,
- 9Can prop, as you have learnt, our nobler being:
- 10Yes, Lady, while about your neck is wound
- 11(Your casual glance oft meeting) this bright cord,
- 12What witchery, for pure gifts of inward seeing,
- 13Lurks in it, Memory's Helper, Fancy's Lord,
- 14For precious tremblings in your bosom found!
Editor’s Note
p. 54. XLVII. To Cordelia M———: i.e. Cordelia Marshall, daughter of D. W.'s great friend, Jane Marshall. In 1841 she married William Whewell, who succeeded W.'s brother as Master of Trinity, Cambridge, in that year.
Critical Apparatus
XLVII. 2 so 1845: You tell me, Delia! 1835–43
Critical Apparatus
5–6 so 1845: Spain You say, but from Helvellyn's 1835–43
