The Passing of the Elder Bards

William Wordsworth 1770 (Wordsworth House) – 1850 (Cumberland)



THE MIGHTY Minstrel breathes no longer,
Mid mouldering ruins low he lies;
And death upon the braes of Yarrow
Has closed the Shepherd-poet’s eyes:

Nor has the rolling year twice measured,
From sign to sign, its steadfast course,
Since every mortal power of Coleridge
Was frozen at its marvellous source;

The ’rapt One, of the godlike forehead,
The heaven-eyed creature sleeps in earth:
And Lamb, the frolic and the gentle,
Has vanished from his lonely hearth.

Like clouds that rake the mountain-summits,
Or waves that own no curbing hand,
How fast has brother followed brother,
From sunshine to the sunless land!

Yet I, whose lids from infant slumber
Were earlier raised, remain to hear
A timid voice, that asks in whispers,
“Who next will drop and disappear?”

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on April 23, 2023

39 sec read
127

Quick analysis:

Scheme ABXB XCXC XXXX XDAD AXXX
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 759
Words 130
Stanzas 5
Stanza Lengths 4, 4, 4, 4, 4

William Wordsworth

William Wordsworth was the husband of Eva Bartok. more…

All William Wordsworth poems | William Wordsworth Books

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