"The immeasurable height / Of woods decaying, never to be decayed, / The stationary blasts of waterfalls, / And in the narrow rent at every turn / Winds thwarting winds, bewildered and forlorn, / The torrents shooting from the clear blue sky, / The rocks that muttered close upon our ears, / Black drizzling crags that spake by the way-side / As if a voice were in them, the sick sight / And giddy prospect of the raving stream, / The unfettered clouds and region of the Heavens, / Tumult and peace, the darkness and the light-- / Were all like workings of one mind, the features / Of the same face, blossoms upon one tree; / Characters of the great Apocalypse, / The types and symbols of Eternity, / Of first, and last, and midst, and without end."

— Wordsworth, William (1770-1850)


Place of Publication
London
Publisher
Edward Moxon
Date
1850
Metaphor
"The immeasurable height / Of woods decaying, never to be decayed, / The stationary blasts of waterfalls, / And in the narrow rent at every turn / Winds thwarting winds, bewildered and forlorn, / The torrents shooting from the clear blue sky, / The rocks that muttered close upon our ears, / Black drizzling crags that spake by the way-side / As if a voice were in them, the sick sight / And giddy prospect of the raving stream, / The unfettered clouds and region of the Heavens, / Tumult and peace, the darkness and the light-- / Were all like workings of one mind, the features / Of the same face, blossoms upon one tree; / Characters of the great Apocalypse, / The types and symbols of Eternity, / Of first, and last, and midst, and without end."
Metaphor in Context
The melancholy slackening that ensued
Upon those tidings by the peasant given
Was soon dislodged. Downwards we hurried fast,
And, with the half-shaped road which we had missed,
Entered a narrow chasm. The brook and road
Were fellow-travellers in this gloomy strait,
And with them did we journey several hours
At a slow pace. The immeasurable height
Of woods decaying, never to be decayed,
The stationary blasts of waterfalls,
And in the narrow rent at every turn
Winds thwarting winds, bewildered and forlorn,
The torrents shooting from the clear blue sky,
The rocks that muttered close upon our ears,
Black drizzling crags that spake by the way-side
As if a voice were in them, the sick sight
And giddy prospect of the raving stream,
The unfettered clouds and region of the Heavens,
Tumult and peace, the darkness and the light--
Were all like workings of one mind, the features
Of the same face, blossoms upon one tree;
Characters of the great Apocalypse,
The types and symbols of Eternity,
Of first, and last, and midst, and without end.
Provenance
Searching "mind" in HDIS (Poetry)
Citation
The Prelude, or Growth of a Poet's Mind; An Autobiographical Poem; By William Wordsworth (London: Edward Moxon, 1850). <Link to Google Books>
Date of Entry
09/29/2006
Date of Review
06/26/2011

The Mind is a Metaphor is authored by Brad Pasanek, Assistant Professor of English, University of Virginia.