Poems on the Naming of Places + 

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By Persons resident in the country and attached to rural objects, many places will be found unnamed or of unknown names, where little Incidents will have occurred, or feelings been experienced, which will have given to such places a private and peculiar interest. From a wish to give some sort of record to such Incidents, or renew the gratification of such Feelings, Names have been given to Places by the Author and some of his Friends, and the following Poems written in consequence. + 

I + 

It was an April morning: fresh and clear + 

The Rivulet, delighting in its strength, + 

Ran with a young man’s speed; and yet the voice + 

Of waters which the winter had supplied + 

Was softened down into a vernal tone. + 

The spirit of enjoyment and desire, + 

And hopes and wishes, from all living things + 

Went circling, like a multitude of sounds. + 

The budding groves appeared as if in haste + 

To spur the steps of June; as if their shades + 

Of various green were hindrances that stood + 

Between them and their object: yet, meanwhile, + 

There was such deep contentment in the air + 

That every naked ash, and tardy tree + 

Yet leafless, seemed as though the countenance + 

With which it looked on this delightful day + 

Were native to the summer.⁠—Up the brook + 

I roamed in the confusion of my heart, + 

Alive to all things and forgetting all. + 

At length I to a sudden turning came + 

In this continuous glen, where down a rock + 

The stream, so ardent in its course before, + 

Sent forth such sallies of glad sound, that all + 

Which I till then had heard, appeared the voice + 

Of common pleasure: beast and bird, the Lamb, + 

The Shepherd’s Dog, the Linnet and the Thrush + 

Vied with this Waterfall, and made a song + 

Which, while I listened, seemed like the wild growth + 

Or like some natural produce of the air + 

That could not cease to be. Green leaves were here, + 

But ’twas the foliage of the rocks, the birch, + 

The yew, the holly, and the bright green thorn, + 

With hanging islands of resplendent furze: + 

And on a summit, distant a short space, + 

By any who should look beyond the dell, + 

A single mountain Cottage might be seen. + 

I gazed and gazed, and to myself I said, + 

“Our thoughts at least are ours; and this wild nook, + 

My Emma, I will dedicate to thee.” + 

—Soon did the spot become my other home, + 

My dwelling, and my out-of-doors abode. + 

And, of the Shepherds who have seen me there, + 

To whom I sometimes in our idle talk + 

Have told this fancy, two or three, perhaps, + 

Years after we are gone and in our graves, + 

When they have cause to speak of this wild place, + 

May call it by the name of Emma’s Dell. + 

II + 

To Joanna + 

Amid the smoke of cities did you pass + 

Your time of early youth; and there you learned, + 

From years of quiet industry, to love + 

The living Beings by your own fire-side, + 

With such a strong devotion, that your heart + 

Is slow towards the sympathies of them + 

Who look upon the hills with tenderness, + 

And make dear friendships with the streams and groves. + 

Yet we, who are transgressors in this kind, + 

Dwelling retired in our simplicity + 

Among the woods and fields, we love you well, + 

Joanna! and I guess, since you have been + 

So distant from us now for two long years, + 

That you will gladly listen to discourse + 

However trivial, if you thence are taught + 

That they, with whom you once were happy, talk + 

Familiarly of you and of old times. + 

While I was seated, now some ten days past, + 

Beneath those lofty firs, that overtop + 

Their ancient neighbour, the old Steeple tower, + 

The Vicar from his gloomy house hard by + 

Came forth to greet me; and when he had asked, + 

“How fares Joanna, that wild-hearted Maid! + 

And when will she return to us?” he paused; + 

And, after short exchange of village news, + 

He with grave looks demanded, for what cause, + 

Reviving obsolete Idolatry, + 

I, like a Runic Priest, in characters + 

Of formidable size had chiseled out + 

Some uncouth name upon the native rock, + 

Above the Rotha, by the forest side. + 

—Now, by those dear immunities of heart + 

Engendered betwixt malice and true love, + 

I was not loth to be so catechized, + 

And this was my reply:⁠—“As it befell, + 

One summer morning we had walked abroad + 

At break of day, Joanna and myself. + 

—’Twas that delightful season, when the broom, + 

Full-flowered, and visible on every steep, + 

Along the copses runs in veins of gold. + 

Our pathway led us on to Rotha’s banks; + 

And when we came in front of that tall rock + 

Which looks towards the East, I there stopped short, + 

And traced the lofty barrier with my eye + 

From base to summit; such delight I found + 

To note in shrub and tree, in stone and flower, + 

That intermixture of delicious hues, + 

Along so vast a surface, all at once, + 

In one impression, by connecting force + 

Of their own beauty, imaged in the heart. + 

—When I had gazed perhaps two minutes’ space, + 

Joanna, looking in my eyes, beheld + 

That ravishment of mine, and laughed aloud. + 

The rock, like something starting from a sleep, + 

Took up the Lady’s voice, and laughed again: + 

That ancient Woman seated on Helm-crag + 

Was ready with her cavern; Hammar-Scar, + 

And the tall Steep of Silver-How sent forth + 

A noise of laughter; southern Loughrigg heard, + 

And Fairfield answered with a mountain tone: + 

Helvellyn far into the clear blue sky + 

Carried the Lady’s voice⁠—old Skiddaw blew + 

His speaking-trumpet;⁠—back out of the clouds + 

Of Glaramara southward came the voice; + 

And Kirkstone tossed it from his misty head. + 

Now whether, (said I to our cordial Friend + 

Who in the hey-day of astonishment + 

Smiled in my face) this were in simple truth + 

A work accomplished by the brotherhood + 

Of ancient mountains, or my ear was touched + 

With dreams and visionary impulses, + 

Is not for me to tell; but sure I am + 

That there was a loud uproar in the hills. + 

And, while we both were listening, to my side + 

The fair Joanna drew, as if she wished + 

To shelter from some object of her fear. + 

—And hence, long afterwards, when eighteen moons + 

Were wasted, as I chanced to walk alone + 

Beneath this rock, at sun-rise, on a calm + 

And silent morning, I sat down, and there, + 

In memory of affections old and true, + 

I chiseled out in those rude characters + 

Joanna’s name upon the living stone. + 

And I, and all who dwell by my fire-side + 

Have called the lovely rock, Joanna’s Rock.” + 

III + 

There is an Eminence⁠—of these our hills + 

The last that parleys with the setting sun. + 

We can behold it from our Orchard-seat; + 

And, when at evening we pursue our walk + 

Along the public way, this Cliff, so high + 

Above us, and so distant in its height, + 

Is visible, and often seems to send + 

Its own deep quiet to restore our hearts. + 

The meteors make of it a favorite haunt: + 

The star of Jove, so beautiful and large + 

In the mid heavens, is never half so fair + 

As when he shines above it. ’Tis in truth + 

The loneliest place we have among the clouds. + 

And She who dwells with me, whom I have loved + 

With such communion, that no place on earth + 

Can ever be a solitude to me, + 

Hath said, this lonesome Peak shall bear my name. + 

IV + 

A narrow girdle of rough stones and crags, + 

A rude and natural causeway, interpos’d + 

Between the water and a winding slope + 

Of copse and thicket, leaves the eastern shore + 

Of Grasmere safe in its own privacy. + 

And there, myself and two beloved Friends, + 

One calm September morning, ere the mist + 

Had altogether yielded to the sun, + 

Sauntered on this retired and difficult way. + 

—Ill suits the road with one in haste, but we + 

Played with our time; and, as we strolled along, + 

It was our occupation to observe + 

Such objects as the waves had tossed ashore, + 

Feather, or leaf, or weed, or withered bough, + 

Each on the other heaped along the line + 

Of the dry wreck. And, in our vacant mood, + 

Not seldom did we stop to watch some tuft + 

Of dandelion seed or thistle’s beard, + 

Which, seeming lifeless half, and half impelled + 

By some internal feeling, skimmed along + 

Close to the surface of the lake that lay + 

Asleep in a dead calm⁠—ran closely on + 

Along the dead calm lake, now here, now there, + 

In all its sportive wanderings all the while + 

Making report of an invisible breeze + 

That was its wings, its chariot, and its horse, + 

Its very playmate, and its moving soul. + 

—And often, trifling with a privilege + 

Alike indulged to all, we paused, one now, + 

And now the other, to point out, perchance + 

To pluck, some flower or water-weed, too fair + 

Either to be divided from the place + 

On which it grew, or to be left alone + 

To its own beauty. Many such there are, + 

Fair Ferns and Flowers, and chiefly that tall Fern + 

So stately, of the Queen Osmunda named; + 

Plant lovelier in its own retired abode + 

On Grasmere’s beach, than Naiad by the side + 

Of Grecian brook, or Lady of the Mere + 

Sole-sitting by the shores of old Romance. + 

—So fared we that sweet morning: from the fields, + 

Meanwhile, a noise was heard, the busy mirth + 

Of Reapers, Men and Women, Boys and Girls. + 

Delighted much to listen to those sounds, + 

And, in the fashion which I have described + 

Feeding unthinking fancies, we advanced + 

Along the indented shore; when suddenly, + 

Through a thin veil of glittering haze, we saw + 

Before us on a point of jutting land + 

The tall and upright figure of a Man + 

Attired in peasant’s garb, who stood alone + 

Angling beside the margin of the lake. + 

That way we turned our steps; nor was it long + 

Ere, making ready comments on the sight + 

Which then we saw, with one and the same voice + 

We all cried out, that he must be indeed + 

An idle man, who thus could lose a day + 

Of the mid harvest, when the labourer’s hire + 

Is ample, and some little might be stored + 

Wherewith to cheer him in the winter time. + 

Thus talking of that Peasant we approached + 

Close to the spot where with his rod and line + 

He stood alone; whereat he turned his head + 

To greet us⁠—and we saw a man worn down + 

By sickness, gaunt and lean, with sunken cheeks + 

And wasted limbs, his legs so long and lean + 

That for my single self I looked at them, + 

Forgetful of the body they sustained.⁠— + 

Too weak to labour in the harvest field, + 

The Man was using his best skill to gain + 

A pittance from the dead unfeeling lake + 

That knew not of his wants. I will not say + 

What thoughts immediately were ours, nor how + 

The happy idleness of that sweet morn, + 

With all its lovely images, was changed + 

To serious musing and to self-reproach. + 

Nor did we fail to see within ourselves + 

What need there is to be reserved in speech, + 

And temper all our thoughts with charity. + 

—Therefore, unwilling to forget that day, + 

My Friend, Myself, and She who then received + 

The same admonishment, have called the place + 

By a memorial name, uncouth indeed + 

As e’er by Mariner was given to Bay + 

Or Foreland on a new-discovered coast, + 

And Point Rash-Judgement is the Name it bears. + 

V + 

To M. H. + 

Our walk was far among the ancient trees; + 

There was no road, nor any wood-man’s path; + 

But the thick umbrage, checking the wild growth + 

Of weed and sapling, on the soft green turf + 

Beneath the branches of itself had made + 

A track, which brought us to a slip of lawn, + 

And a small bed of water in the woods. + 

All round this pool both flocks and herds might drink + 

On its firm margin, even as from a Well, + 

Or some Stone-bason which the Herdsman’s hand + 

Had shaped for their refreshment; nor did sun + 

Or wind from any quarter ever come, + 

But as a blessing, to this calm recess, + 

This glade of water and this one green field; + 

The spot was made by Nature for herself: + 

The travellers know it not, and ’t will remain + 

Unknown to them: but it is beautiful; + 

And if a man should plant his cottage near, + 

Should sleep beneath the shelter of its trees, + 

And blend its waters with his daily meal, + 

He would so love it that in his death hour + 

Its image would survive among his thoughts: + 

And therefore, my sweet Mary, this still nook + 

With all its beeches we have named for You. + 