Poems
Composed By The Side Of Grasmere Lake 1806
Clouds, lingering yet, extend in solid bars
Through the grey west; and lo! these waters, steeled
By breezeless air to smoothest polish, yield
A vivid repetition of the stars;
Jove, Venus, and the ruddy crest of Mars
Amid his fellows beauteously revealed
At happy distance from earth's groaning field,
Where ruthless mortals wage incessant wars.
Is it a mirror?--or the nether Sphere
Opening to view the abyss in which she feeds 10
Her own calm fires?--But list! a voice is near;
Great Pan himself low-whispering through the reeds,
"Be thankful, thou; for, if unholy deeds
Ravage the world, tranquillity is here!"
This sonnet was written in 1806. It is componed of an octet and a sestet. It (l. 9): the syntax is not clear. Does “it” refer to Herat or heavens? Steeled: to make hard, resemble steel, unbending; the presence of a treta or negative force is suggested. Incessant wars: Britain had been at war since 1793, Napoleon defeated English in 1805 at Trafalgar Here (l. 14): is the deictic “here” stressed or not? If it is stressed then it refers to a particular location, Grassmere, as opposed to the world
