“And Oh! Dear Soother Of The Pensive Breast”

The following ten lines were written by Wordsworth in a copy of his works, after the lines To the Moon (Rydal) 1835. They may have been intended as a possible sequel to them, or to the lines To the Moon, composed by the Seaside--on the coast of Cumberland (1835).--ED.

And oh! dear soother of the pensive breast, Let homelier words without offence attest How where on random topics as they hit The moments’ humour, rough Tars spend their wit. Thy changes, which to wiser Spirits seem Dark as a riddle, prove a favourite theme; Thy motions, intricate and manifold, Oft help to make bold fancy’s flight more bold; Beget strange themes; and to freaks give birth Of speech as wild as ever heightened mirth.

1836