‘Inspect the basis of the social pile:Inquire,’ said I, ‘how much of mental powerAnd genuine virtue they possess who liveBy bodily toil, labour exceeding farTheir due proportion, under all the weightOf that injustice which upon ourselvesOurselves entail.’ Such estimate to frameI chiefly looked (what need to look beyond?)Among the natural abodes of men,Fields with their rural works; recalled to mindMy earliest notices; with these comparedThe observations made in later youth,And to that day continued—For, the timeHad never been when throes of mighty NationsAnd the world’s tumult unto me could yield,How far soe’er transported and possessed,Full measure of content; but still I cravedAn intermingling of distinct regardsAnd truths of individual sympathyNearer ourselves.Wordsworth,Prelude, bookXIII.
‘Inspect the basis of the social pile:Inquire,’ said I, ‘how much of mental powerAnd genuine virtue they possess who liveBy bodily toil, labour exceeding farTheir due proportion, under all the weightOf that injustice which upon ourselvesOurselves entail.’ Such estimate to frameI chiefly looked (what need to look beyond?)Among the natural abodes of men,Fields with their rural works; recalled to mindMy earliest notices; with these comparedThe observations made in later youth,And to that day continued—For, the timeHad never been when throes of mighty NationsAnd the world’s tumult unto me could yield,How far soe’er transported and possessed,Full measure of content; but still I cravedAn intermingling of distinct regardsAnd truths of individual sympathyNearer ourselves.Wordsworth,Prelude, bookXIII.
‘Inspect the basis of the social pile:Inquire,’ said I, ‘how much of mental powerAnd genuine virtue they possess who liveBy bodily toil, labour exceeding farTheir due proportion, under all the weightOf that injustice which upon ourselvesOurselves entail.’ Such estimate to frameI chiefly looked (what need to look beyond?)Among the natural abodes of men,Fields with their rural works; recalled to mindMy earliest notices; with these comparedThe observations made in later youth,And to that day continued—For, the timeHad never been when throes of mighty NationsAnd the world’s tumult unto me could yield,How far soe’er transported and possessed,Full measure of content; but still I cravedAn intermingling of distinct regardsAnd truths of individual sympathyNearer ourselves.Wordsworth,Prelude, bookXIII.
‘Inspect the basis of the social pile:Inquire,’ said I, ‘how much of mental powerAnd genuine virtue they possess who liveBy bodily toil, labour exceeding farTheir due proportion, under all the weightOf that injustice which upon ourselvesOurselves entail.’ Such estimate to frameI chiefly looked (what need to look beyond?)Among the natural abodes of men,Fields with their rural works; recalled to mindMy earliest notices; with these comparedThe observations made in later youth,And to that day continued—For, the timeHad never been when throes of mighty NationsAnd the world’s tumult unto me could yield,How far soe’er transported and possessed,Full measure of content; but still I cravedAn intermingling of distinct regardsAnd truths of individual sympathyNearer ourselves.
‘Inspect the basis of the social pile:
Inquire,’ said I, ‘how much of mental power
And genuine virtue they possess who live
By bodily toil, labour exceeding far
Their due proportion, under all the weight
Of that injustice which upon ourselves
Ourselves entail.’ Such estimate to frame
I chiefly looked (what need to look beyond?)
Among the natural abodes of men,
Fields with their rural works; recalled to mind
My earliest notices; with these compared
The observations made in later youth,
And to that day continued—For, the time
Had never been when throes of mighty Nations
And the world’s tumult unto me could yield,
How far soe’er transported and possessed,
Full measure of content; but still I craved
An intermingling of distinct regards
And truths of individual sympathy
Nearer ourselves.
Wordsworth,Prelude, bookXIII.
Wordsworth,Prelude, bookXIII.