Читать книгу Selections from Wordsworth and Tennyson - William Wordsworth - Страница 6

Table of Contents

Bright Flower! whose home is everywhere,

Bold in maternal Nature's care,

And all the long year through the heir

Of joy and sorrow,

Methinks that there abides in thee 5

Some concord with humanity,

Given to no other flower I see

The forest thorough!

Is it that Man is soon deprest?

A thoughtless Thing! who, once unblest, 10

Does little on his memory rest,

Or on his reason,

And Thou would'st teach him how to find

A shelter under every wind,

A hope for times that are unkind, 15

And every season?

Thou wander'st the wide world about,

Uncheck'd by pride or scrupulous doubt,

With friends to greet thee, or without,

Yet pleased and wilting; 20

Meek, yielding to the occasion's call,

And all things suffering from all,

Thy function apostolical

In peace fulfilling.

8. THOROUGH. This is by derivation the correct form of the modern word "through." A.S. thurh, M.E. thuruh. The use of "thorough" is now purely adjectival, except in archaic or poetic speech.

24. APOSTOLICAL. The stanza in which this word occurs was omitted in 1827 and 1832, because the expression was censured as almost profane. Wordsworth in his dictated note to Miss Fenwick has the following: "The word [apostolical] is adopted with reference to its derivation, implying something sent out on a mission; and assuredly this little flower, especially when the subject of verse, may be regarded, in its humble degree, as administering both to moral and spiritual purposes."