England: 1802
Ilse writes to Emily:
If you were like your foolish Ilse, chasing a score of butterfly projects and ambitions you wouldn’t be so happy. You always remind me– always did remind me, even in our old chummy days–of somebody’s line–’her soul was like a star and dwelt apart.’
-Emily’s Quest ch.21
England: 1802
By William Wordsworth
Milton ! thou shoudst be living at this hour :
England hath need of thee : she is a fen
Of stagnant waters : altar, sword, and pen,
Fireside, the heroic wealth of hall and bower,
Have forfeited their ancient English dower
Of inward happiness. We are selfish men ;
Oh ! raise us up, return to us again ;
And give us manners, virtue, freedom, power.
Thy soul was like a Star, and dwelt apart ;
Thou hadst a voice whose sound was like the sea ;
Pure as the naked heavens, majestic, free,
So didst thou travel on life’s common way,
In cheerful godliness ; and yet thy heart
The lowliest duties on herself did lay.
Source
Wordsworth, William. Arthur Quiller-Couch, ed. 1919. The Oxford Book of English Verse: 1250–1900. Online: Internet. http://www.bartleby.com/101/524.html
