object:1.ww - The Tables Turned
author class:William Wordsworth
book class:Wordsworth - Poems
subject class:Poetry
class:chapter
. Up! up! my Friend, and quit your books;
Or surely you'll grow double:
Up! up! my Friend, and clear your looks;
Why all this toil and trouble?
The sun above the mountain's head,
A freshening lustre mellow
Through all the long green fields has spread,
His first sweet evening yellow.
Books! 'tis a dull and endless strife:
Come, hear the woodland linnet,
How sweet his music! on my life,
There's more of wisdom in it.
And hark! how blithe the throstle sings!
He, too, is no mean preacher:
Come forth into the light of things,
Let Nature be your teacher.
She has a world of ready wealth,
Our minds and hearts to bless
Spontaneous wisdom breathed by health,
Truth breathed by cheerfulness.
One impulse from a vernal wood
May teach you more of man,
Of moral evil and of good,
Than all the sages can.
br> Sweet is the lore which Nature brings;
Our meddling intellect
Mis-shapes the beauteous forms of things:
We murder to dissect.
Enough of Science and of Art;
Close up those barren leaves;
Come forth, and bring with you a heart
That watches and receives.
NOTES
Form:
abab
Composition Date:
1798
1.
In the "Advertisement" to the volume, Wordsworth wrote: "The lines entitled
Expostulation and Reply and those which follow [The Tables Turned], arose
out of conversation with a friend who was somewhat unreasonably attached to modern
books of moral philosophy." The friend was probably William Hazlitt who visited
Coleridge and Wordsworth in Somerset in the spring of 1798. See Hazlitt's essay
"My First Acquaintance with Poets."
questions, comments, suggestions/feedback, take-down requests, contribute, etc
contact me @ integralyogin@gmail.com or via the comments below
or join the integral discord server (chatrooms)
if the page you visited was empty, it may be noted and I will try to fill it out. cheers