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| Book Inscription 1881 |
One hundred and forty-three years ago, a man gave his wife a Christmas gift of the book, The Poetical Works of Wordsworth. The pale pencil lines he made to insure his script would be straight are barely visible. There are also light pencil marks in the table of contents marking some poems. To my surprise, the poem I chose to quote below, is one of them. Eerie.
From The Oak and the Broom, a Pastoral, VIII,
O the Same Flower, last stanza, page 146:
Bright Flower! for by that name at last,
When all my reveries are past,
I call thee, and to that cleave fast,
Sweet silent creature!
That breath'st with me in sun and air,
Do thou, as thou art wont, repair
My heart with gladness, and a share
Of thy meek nature!
1805
William Wordsworth
I’d love to know about the lives of the couple who owned the book…
ReplyDeleteMarie,
DeleteIt can be fascinating to research the names.
Old Navy Blue book names are especially interesting to research.
What a lovely poem -- and what a thoughtful gift.
ReplyDeleteJeanie,
DeleteThere is more about past memories. I like to think they had a very happy marriage.
I always enjoy reading inscriptions in older books and wondering about the people that wrote them. Nowadays hardly anybody inscribes a book and I think that's quite sad.
ReplyDeleteMaryanne,
DeleteWriting in a book devalues the book. With the entry of eBay years ago, folks became more aware of what adds and subtracts from the value of things.
Maywyn such a lovely poem and just imagine having such an old book of this nature. So glad you shared with us. Hugs!
ReplyDeleteDebbie,
DeleteOld poetry books are a good source for inscriptions, notes and pressed 4 leaf clovers.
Hugs!
It sounds like a treasure of a book, May. I had to look up the poem and read the whole thing. What a sweet and clever work. That some people's minds so easily create poetry both enchants and mystifies me.
ReplyDelete