Poem: Lines Written in the Early Spring

Poem

Lines Written in Early Spring

Now, read the poem ‘Lines Written in Early Spring’, which expresses the poet’s feelings towards Nature and the lessons he has learnt from it.

I heard a thousand blended notes

While in a grove I sate reclined,

In that sweet mood when pleasant thoughts

Bring sad thoughts to the mind.

To her fair works did Nature link

The human soul that through me ran;

And much it grieved my heart to think

What Man has made of Man.

Through primrose tufts, in that sweet bower,

The periwinkle trail’d its wreaths;

And ‘tis my faith that every flower

Enjoys the air it breathes.

The birds around me hopp’d and play’d

Their thoughts I cannot measure,

But the least motion which they made

It seem’d a thrill of pleasure.

The budding twigs spread out their fan

To catch the breezy air;

And I must think, do all I can,

That there was pleasure there.

If this belief from heaven be sent,

If such be Nature’s holy plan,

Have I not reason to lament

What Man has made of Man?

About the Author

William Wordsworth (1770 – 1850) was a major English poet who, with Samuel Taylor Coleridge helped to launch the Romantic Age in English Literature with their joint publication Lyrical Ballads.

Wordsworth was Britain’s poet Laureate from 1843 until his death. He was popularly known as a Nature Poet. Some of his famous poems are Daffodils, The Solitary Reaper, To the Cuckoo, The Tables Turned, Lines Composed a Few Miles above Tintern Abbey.

Warm Up:

·           Do you go for leisurely walks? If you are a city-dweller, what or who would you expect to see on your way?

·           If you go to a village, what scenes would you observe?