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 |  |
Free as a colt at pasture on the hill,
I ranged at large, through the Metropolis
Month after month. Obscurely did I live,
Not courting the society of Men
By literature, or elegance, or rank
Distinguish'd; in the midst of things, it seem'd,
Looking as from a distance on the world
That mov'd about me; yet insensibly
False preconceptions were corrected thus
And errors of the fancy rectified,
Alike with reference to men and things,
And sometimes from each quarter were pour'd in
Novel imaginations and profound.
A year thus spent, this field (with small regret
Save only for the Book-stalls in the streets,
Wild produce, hedge-row fruit, on all sides hung
To tempt the sauntering traveller from his track)
I quitted, and betook myself to France,
Led thither chiefly by a personal wish
To speak the language more familiarly,
With which intent I chose for my abode
A City on the Borders of the Loire.
I ranged at large, through the Metropolis
Month after month. Obscurely did I live,
Not courting the society of Men
By literature, or elegance, or rank
Distinguish'd; in the midst of things, it seem'd,
Looking as from a distance on the world
That mov'd about me; yet insensibly
False preconceptions were corrected thus
And errors of the fancy rectified,
Alike with reference to men and things,
310
Novel imaginations and profound.
A year thus spent, this field (with small regret
Save only for the Book-stalls in the streets,
Wild produce, hedge-row fruit, on all sides hung
To tempt the sauntering traveller from his track)
I quitted, and betook myself to France,
Led thither chiefly by a personal wish
To speak the language more familiarly,
With which intent I chose for my abode
A City on the Borders of the Loire.
| The Prelude | |