The Starting Point: from "Prospectus"

On Man, on Nature, and on Human Life,

Musing in solitude, I oft perceive

Fair trains of imagery before me rise,

Accompanied by feelings of delight

Pure, or with no unpleasing sadness mixed;

And I am consicous of affecting thoughts

And dear remembrances, who presence soothes

Or elevates the Mind, intent to weigh

The good and evil of our moral state.

--To these emotions, whencesoe'er they come,

Whether from breath of outward circumstance,

Or from the Soul--an impulse to herself--

I would give utterance in numerous verse.

Of Truth, of Grandeur, Beauty, Love, and Hope,

And melancholy Fear subdued by Faith;

Of blessed consolations in distress;

Of moral strength, and intellectual Power;

Of joy in widest commonalty spread;

Of the individual Mind that keeps her own

Inviolate retirement, subject there

To Conscience only, and the law supreme

Of that Intelligence which governs all--

I sing:--"fit audience let me find though few!"

          --Wordsworth