William Wordsworth
William Wordsworth
William Wordsworthwas a major English Romantic poet who, with Samuel Taylor Coleridge, helped to launch the Romantic Age in English literature with their joint publication Lyrical Ballads...
NationalityEnglish
ProfessionPoet
Date of Birth7 April 1770
break comfort strength
There is a comfort in the strength of love; 'T will make a thing endurable, which else Would overset the brain, or break the heart. . . .
exposed knowledge suffering tempted
More skilful in self-knowledge, even more pure,/ As tempted more; more able to endure,/ As more exposed to suffering and distress.
dreads flying sought
More like a man/ Flying from something that he dreads than one/ Who sought the thing he loved.
heart leaps rainbow
My heart leaps up when I beholdA rainbow in the sky.
behold heart leaps rainbow
My heart leaps up when I behold A rainbow in the sky.
contented fret hermits narrow
Nuns fret not at their convent's narrow room;And hermits are contented with their cells.
anger compelled dwelling ear earth food gives hear human leave life loathing mercy pain search shall till wander waste
No human ear shall ever hear me speak;No human dwelling ever give me food,Or sleep, or rest: but, over waste and wild,In search of nothing, that this earth can give,But expiation, will I wander on --A Man by pain and thought compelled to live,Yet loathing life -- till anger is appeasedIn Heaven, and Mercy gives me leave to die.
delicate eyes fountain gave humble love sweet
She gave me eyes, she gave me ears;And humble cares, and delicate fears;A heart, the fountain of sweet tears;And love and thought and joy.
minds
Minds that have nothing to conferFind little to perceive.
grieve men passed
Men are we, and must grieve when even the shadeOf that which once was great, is passed away.
rock sand sun
Like a sea-beast crawled forth, that on a shelf/ Of rock or sand reposeth, there to sun itself.
emotion emotions origin overflow poetry powerful takes
Poetry is the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings: it takes its origin from emotion recollected in tranquility
breath expression finer poetry spirit
Poetry is the breath and finer spirit of all knowledge; it is the impassioned expression which is in the countenance of all Science.
blend meanest pleasure sorrow
Never to blend our pleasure or our prideWith sorrow of the meanest thing that feels.