Tax not the royal Saint with vain expense,With ill-matched aims the Architect who plannedAlbeit labouring for a scanty bandOf white robed Scholars only this immenseAnd glorious Work of fine intelligence!Give all thou canst; high Heaven rejects the loreOf nicely-calculated less or more;So deemed the man who fashioned for the senseThese lofty pillars, spread that branching … [Read more...] about Ecclesiastical Sonnets – Part III. – XLIII – Inside Of King’s College Chapel, Cambridge, By: William Wordsworth
Ecclesiastical Sonnets – Part III. – XLII – Cathedrals, Etc., By: William Wordsworth
Open your gates, ye everlasting Piles!Types of the spiritual Church which God hath reared;Not loth we quit the newly-hallowed swardAnd humble altar, 'mid your sumptuous aislesTo kneel, or thrid your intricate defiles,Or down the nave to pace in motion slow;Watching, with upward eye, the tall tower growAnd mount, at every step, with living wilesInstinct to rouse the heart and … [Read more...] about Ecclesiastical Sonnets – Part III. – XLII – Cathedrals, Etc., By: William Wordsworth
Ecclesiastical Sonnets – Part III. – XLI – New Churchyard, By: William Wordsworth
The encircling ground, in native turf arrayed,Is now by solemn consecration givenTo social interests, and to favouring Heaven;And where the rugged colts their gambols played,And wild deer bounded through the forest glade,Unchecked as when by merry Outlaw driven,Shall hymns of praise resound at morn and even;And soon, full soon, the lonely Sexton's spadeShall wound the tender … [Read more...] about Ecclesiastical Sonnets – Part III. – XLI – New Churchyard, By: William Wordsworth
Ecclesiastical Sonnets – Part III. – XL – Continued, By: William Wordsworth
Mine ear has rung, my spirit sunk subdued,Sharing the strong emotion of the crowd,When each pale brow to dread hosannas bowedWhile clouds of incense mounting veiled the rood,That glimmered like a pine-tree dimly viewedThrough Alpine vapours. Such appalling riteOur Church prepares not, trusting to the mightOf simple truth with grace divine imbued;Yet will we not conceal the … [Read more...] about Ecclesiastical Sonnets – Part III. – XL – Continued, By: William Wordsworth
Ecclesiastical Sonnets – Part III. – XIX – The Liturgy, By: William Wordsworth
Yes, if the intensities of hope and fearAttract us still, and passionate exerciseOf lofty thoughts, the way before us liesDistinct with signs, through which in set career,As through a zodiac, moves the ritual yearOf England's Church; stupendous mysteries!Which whoso travels in her bosom eyes,As he approaches them, with solemn cheer.Upon that circle traced from sacred storyWe … [Read more...] about Ecclesiastical Sonnets – Part III. – XIX – The Liturgy, By: William Wordsworth