Skip directly to:Main content Main navigation

University of Virginia Library

The poetical works of William Wordsworth

... In six volumes ... A new edition

Wordsworth, William (1770-1850)

I.

II.

collapse section

III.

MEMORIALS OF A TOUR IN SCOTLAND. 1803.

MEMORIALS OF A TOUR IN SCOTLAND. 1814.

collapse section

POEMS DEDICATED TO NATIONAL INDEPENDENCE AND LIBERTY.

collapse section

I.

I.

I. COMPOSED BY THE SEA-SIDE, NEAR CALAIS.

II.

III.

III. COMPOSED NEAR CALAIS, ON THE ROAD LEADING TO ARDRES, AUGUST 7, 1802.

IV.

V.

VI.

VI. ON THE EXTINCTION OF THE VENETIAN REPUBLIC.

VII.

VII. THE KING OF SWEDEN.

VIII.

VIII. TO TOUSSAINT L'OUVERTURE.

IX.

X.

X. COMPOSED IN THE VALLEY NEAR DOVER, ON THE DAY OF LANDING.

XI.

XII.

XII. THOUGHT OF A BRITON ON THE SUBJUGATION OF SWITZERLAND.

XIII.

XIII. WRITTEN IN LONDON, SEPTEMBER, 1802.

XIV.

XV.

XVI.

XVII.

XVIII.

XIX.

XX.

XXI.

XXII.

XXIII.

XXIII. TO THE MEN OF KENT. OCTOBER, 1803.

XXIV.

XXV.

XXV. LINES ON THE EXPECTED INVASION. 1803.

XXVI.

XXVI. ANTICIPATION. OCTOBER, 1803.

XXVII.

XXVIII.

II.

MEMORIALS OF A TOUR ON THE CONTINENT. 1820.

MEMORIALS OF A TOUR IN ITALY. 1837.

THE RIVER DUDDON.

YARROW REVISITED, AND OTHER POEMS,

IV.

V.

VI.

collapse section

Collapse All | Expand All expand section

XLI. NUNNERY.

The floods are roused, and will not soon be weary;
Down from the Pennine Alps how fiercely sweeps
Croglin, the stately Eden's tributary!
He raves, or through some moody passage creeps
Plotting new mischief—out again he leaps
Into broad light, and sends, through regions airy,
That voice which soothed the Nuns while on the steeps
They knelt in prayer, or sang to blissful Mary.
That union ceased: then, cleaving easy walks
Through crags, and smoothing paths beset with danger,
Came studious Taste; and many a pensive stranger
Dreams on the banks, and to the river talks.
What change shall happen next to Nunnery Dell?
Canal, and Viaduct, and Railway, tell!

At Corby, a few miles below Nunnery, the Eden is crossed by a magnificent viaduct; and another of these works is thrown over a deep glen or ravine, at a very short distance from the main stream.

The chain of Crossfell.