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Home  »  Poems of Places An Anthology in 31 Volumes  »  The Glen of Loch Etive

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, ed. Poems of Places: An Anthology in 31 Volumes.
Scotland: Vols. VI–VIII. 1876–79.

Loch Etive

The Glen of Loch Etive

By William Wordsworth (1770–1850)

“THIS land of rainbows spanning glens whose walls,

Rock-built, are hung with rainbow-colored mists,

Of far-stretched meres whose salt flood never rests,

Of tuneful caves and playful waterfalls,

Of mountains varying momently their crests,—

Proud be this land! whose poorest huts are halls

Where fancy entertains becoming guests,

While native song the heroic past recalls.”

Thus, in the net of her own wishes caught,

The Muse exclaimed; but Story now must hide

Her trophies, Fancy crouch; the course of pride

Has been diverted, other lessons taught,

That make the patriot-spirit bow her head

Where the all-couquering Roman feared to tread.