The Poetical Works of William Wordsworth
Chapter 20 : Glide gently, thus for ever glide,[B] O Thames! that other bards may see As lovely visi

Glide gently, thus for ever glide,[B]

O Thames! that other bards may see As lovely visions by thy side As now, fair river! come to me.

O glide, fair stream! for ever so, 5 Thy quiet soul on all bestowing, Till all our minds for ever flow As thy deep waters now are flowing.

Vain thought!--Yet be as now thou art, That in thy waters may be seen 10 The image of a poet's heart, How bright, how solemn, how serene!

Such as did once the Poet bless, [1]

Who murmuring here a later [C] ditty, [2]

Could find no refuge from distress 15 But in the milder grief of pity.

Now let us, as we float along, [3]

For _him_ [4] suspend the das.h.i.+ng oar; [D]

And pray that never child of song May know that Poet's sorrows more. [5] 20 How calm! how still! the only sound, The dripping of the oar suspended!

--The evening darkness gathers round By virtue's holiest Powers attended.

VARIANTS ON THE TEXT

[Variant 1:

1800.

Such heart did once the poet bless, 1798.]

[Variant 2:

1815.

Who, pouring here a _later_ [i] ditty, 1798.]

[Variant 3:

1802.

Remembrance, as we glide along, 1798.

... float ... 1800.]

[Variant 4:

1802.

For him ... 1798.]

[Variant 5:

1802.

May know his freezing sorrows more. 1798.]

[Sub-Footnote i: The italics only occur in the editions of 1798 and 1800.--Ed.]

FOOTNOTES TO THE TEXT

[Footnote A: The t.i.tle in the editions 1802-1815 was 'Remembrance of Collins, written upon the Thames near Richmond'.--Ed.]

[Footnote B: Compare the 'After-thought' to "The River Duddon. A Series of Sonnets":

Still glides the Stream, and shall for ever glide.

Ed.]

[Footnote C: Collins's 'Ode on the Death of Thomson', the last written, I believe, of the poems which were published during his life-time. This Ode is also alluded to in the next stanza.--W. W. 1798.]

[Footnote D: Compare Collins's 'Ode on the Death of Thomson', 'The Scene on the Thames near Richmond':

Remembrance oft shall haunt the sh.o.r.e When Thames in summer wreaths is drest.

And oft suspend the das.h.i.+ng oar To bid his gentle spirit rest.

As Mr. Dowden suggests, the _him_ was probably italicised by Wordsworth, "because the oar is suspended not for Thomson but for Collins." The italics were first used in the edition of 1802.--Ed.]