After exploring unmarked sections of the forest he comes upon a pristine clearing filled with nuts. It is his goal to harvest hazelnuts somewhere along the way. He is dressed for the outing and carries his “nutting-crook” in his hand. The poem starts with the speaker describing the beginning of his adventure. ‘ Nutting’ by William Wordsworth describes a speaker’s boyhood journey into the woods and the resulting pleasure and rage he experiences. Touch-for there is a spirit in the woods. Then, dearest Maiden, move along these shades The silent trees, and saw the intruding sky. Of hazels, and the green and mossy bower,Ĭonfound my present feelings with the past Įxulting, rich beyond the wealth of kings, Wasting its kindliness on stocks and stones,Īnd dragged to earth both branch and bough, with crash The heart luxuriates with indifferent things, In that sweet mood when pleasure loves to pay I heard the murmur, and the murmuring sound, Lay round me, scattered like a flock of sheep. That, fleeced with moss, under the shady trees, Perhaps it was a bower beneath whose leavesĪnd-with my cheek on one of those green stones Tall and erect, with tempting clusters hung,īreathing with such suppression of the heartĪs joy delights in and, with wise restraintĪmong the flowers, and with the flowers I played Through beds of matted fern, and tangled thickets,ĭrooped with its withered leaves, ungracious sign More ragged than need was! O'er pathless rocks, Which for that service had been husbanded,Īt thorns, and brakes, and brambles,-and, in truth, Tricked out in proud disguise of cast-off weeds Tow'rd some far-distant wood, a Figure quaint, With a huge wallet o'er my shoulders slung,Ī nutting-crook in hand and turned my steps I left our cottage-threshold, sallying forth One of those heavenly days that cannot die One is meant to learn something by the time they come to the conclusion of this piece, but also have enjoyed themselves along the way. These elements are all part of the larger parable, or lesson, set out within the narrative. It was here that Wordsworth spent the majority of his life and a location that features prominently throughout his work.Īlso notable within the text are the “fairy-tale” elements which involve a quest, disguises, and treasure. It was originally intended to be included as part of his longer autobiographical piece, The Prelude, but was later cut.įor readers familiar with the work of Wordsworth it will be easy to spot the revery common to Wordsworth’s descriptions of the Lake District in England. ‘Nutting’ was written in 1798 while Wordsworth was in Germany with his sister. The poem is written in blank verse, meaning that there is not a pattern of rhyme or meter to structure the lines. This is, as Weygandt points out, a direct echo of Wordsworth’s last line.‘Nutting’ by William Wordsworth is a fifty-six-line poem that is contained within one stanza of text. A failure could cause a car to go out of control.

differential gear the mechanism in the rear axle that slows one wheel when the vehicle turns a corner. A serious issue for early motorists, indeed for Kipling, since there is a steep hill up from Bateman’s to the main road above. grade American usage for the steepness of a slope, known as ‘gradient’ in the United Kingdom.

Quatrain which Kipling splendidly undermines with his ‘differential “She dwelt among the untrodden ways”, in particular the final pathetic ‘Wandered’ immediately echoes ‘I wandered lonely as a cloud’,īut the Wordsworth the parody mainly recalls is the ‘Lucy’ poem Of course lifted straight from Wordsworth’s ‘lyrical ballad’ of the same Kipling plays a number of games here with Wordsworth. 356) is also unimpressed by this ditty, taking it as an example of the ‘modest fare’ offered by the series.

The impression left after a review of Kipling’s allusions to Wordsworth in every kind is that he knew him well, and respected him, but had no special enthusiasm for him.Īndrew Lycett (p. “The Idiot Boy”, which is directly taken from the first and last stanzas of “She dwelt among the untrodden ways”, does not cheapen its original as does “Jane Smith”, but, while it catches the poem’s cadences, it is too obvious to be clever. Wordsworth was an indefatigable walker among the mountains of the Lake District in north-west England, where he lived. Kipling’s lines tell of a young reckless and perhaps unworldly driver, who is often arrested and fined. This verse borrows its title from “The Idiot Boy”, one of his Lyrical Ballads, but Kipling’s words are based on this poem: “Wordsworth” William Wordsworth, 1770-1850, one of the great English Romantic poets of the late 18th and early 19th Centuries. The seventh of the first group of fourteen, published in the Daily Mail 17 February 1904.

There was a boy wordsworth