William Wordsworth (1770-1850). Extracts from the Excursion: [The Moon among Trees]. T. H. Ward, ed. 1880-1918. The English Poets

Thomas Humphry Ward, ed. The English Poets. 1880–1918.
Vol. IV. The Nineteenth Century: Wordsworth to Rossetti

Extracts from the Excursion: [The Moon among Trees]

By William Wordsworth (1770–1850)


(See full text.) WITHIN the soul a faculty abides,
That with interpositions, which would hide
And darken, so can deal that they become
Contingencies of pomp; and serve to exalt
Her native brightness. As the ample moon,	5
In the deep stillness of a summer even
Rising behind a thick and lofty grove,
Burns, like an unconsuming fire of light,
In the green trees; and, kindling on all sides
Their leafy umbrage, turns the dusky veil	10
Into a substance glorious as her own,
Yea, with her own incorporated, by power
Capacious and serene:—Like power abides
In man’s celestial spirit; virtue thus
Sets forth and magnifies herself; thus feeds	15
A calm, a beautiful, and silent fire,
From the encumbrances of mortal life,
From error, disappointment—nay, from guilt;
And sometimes, so relenting justice wills,
From palpable oppressions of despair.’	20