48
What care the public for such needless pains?
They love alike our rough or finish'd strains[1].
If all have equal praise, 'tis surely best,
To seize first thoughts; let pedants take the rest.
They love alike our rough or finish'd strains[1].
If all have equal praise, 'tis surely best,
To seize first thoughts; let pedants take the rest.
- ↑ The "Idiot Boy" of Mr. Wordsworth has had more admirers than the more elaborate composition, entitled "Animal Tranquillity and Decay;" in which the author, in spite of his system, has fallen into the style of what the malcontents would term the old genuine orthodox poetry.The little hedgerow birds,
That peck along the road, regard him not.
He travels on, and in his face, his step,
His gait, is one expression; every limb,
His look and bending figure, all bespeak
A man, who does not move with pain, but moves
With thought. He is insensibly subdu'd
To settled quiet; he is one by whom
All effort seems forgotten; one, to whom
Long patience hath such mild composure giv'n,
That patience now doth seem a thing of which
He hath no need.
Lyr. Ball. vol. i, page 7.
