The Prelude or Growth of a Poet's Mind: By William Wordsworth: Edited from the manuscripts with introduction, textual and critical notes by Ernest de Selincourt |
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 | The Prelude |  |
This was the manner in which Vaudracour
Departed with his Infant; and thus reach'd
His Father's House, where to the innocent Child
Admittance was denied. The young Man spake
No word of indignation or reproof,
But of his Father begg'd, a last request,
That a retreat might be assigned to him,
A house where in the Country he might dwell
With such allowance as his wants required
And the more lonely that the Mansion was
'Twould be more welcome. To a lodge that stood
Deep in a Forest, with leave given, at the age
Of four and twenty summers he retir'd;
And thither took with him his Infant Babe,
And one Domestic for their common needs,
An aged woman. It consoled him here
To attend upon the Orphan and perform
The office of a Nurse to his young Child
Which after a short time by some mistake
Or indiscretion of the Father, died.
The Tale I follow to its last recess
Of suffering or of peace, I know not which;
Theirs be the blame who caused the woe, not mine.
Departed with his Infant; and thus reach'd
His Father's House, where to the innocent Child
Admittance was denied. The young Man spake
No word of indignation or reproof,
But of his Father begg'd, a last request,
That a retreat might be assigned to him,
A house where in the Country he might dwell
With such allowance as his wants required
And the more lonely that the Mansion was
'Twould be more welcome. To a lodge that stood
Deep in a Forest, with leave given, at the age
Of four and twenty summers he retir'd;
And thither took with him his Infant Babe,
And one Domestic for their common needs,
An aged woman. It consoled him here
To attend upon the Orphan and perform
The office of a Nurse to his young Child
Which after a short time by some mistake
Or indiscretion of the Father, died.
The Tale I follow to its last recess
Of suffering or of peace, I know not which;
Theirs be the blame who caused the woe, not mine.
| The Prelude | |