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COMPOSED NEAR CALAIS, ON THE ROAD LEADING TO ARDRES, 1802 by WILLIAM WORDSWORTH

Poet Analysis

First Line: JONES! AS FROM CALAIS SOUTHWARD YOU AND I
Last Line: WHOSE VERNAL COVERTS WINTER HATH LAID BARE.

JONES! as from Calais southward you and I
Went pacing side by side, this public Way
Streamed with the pomp of a too-credulous day,
When faith was pledged to new-born Liberty:
A homeless sound of joy was in the sky:
From hour to hour the antiquated Earth
Beat like the heart of Man: songs, garlands, mirth,
Banners, and happy faces, far and nigh!
And now, sole register that these things were,
Two solitary greetings have I heard,
"Good-morrow, Citizen!" a hollow word,
As if a dead man spake it! Yet despair
Touches me not, though pensive as a bird
Whose vernal coverts winter hath laid bare.




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