English Poetry II: From Collins to Fitzgerald.
The Harvard Classics. 1909–14. |
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| 410. Composed at Neidpath Castle, the Property of Lord Queensberry |
| | | [1803] |
| | | William Wordsworth (1770–1850) |
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| DEGENERATE Douglas! oh, the unworthy lord! | |
| Whom mere despite of heart could so far please | |
| And love of havoc, (for with such disease | |
| Fame taxes him,) that he could send forth word | |
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| To level with the dust a noble horde, | 5 |
| A brotherhood of venerable trees, | |
| Leaving an ancient dome, and towers like these, | |
| Beggar’d and outraged!—Many hearts deplored | |
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| The fate of those old trees; and oft with pain | |
| The traveller at this day will stop and gaze | 10 |
| On wrongs, which Nature scarcely seems to heed: | |
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| For shelter’d places, bosoms, nooks, and bays, | |
| And the pure mountains, and the gentle Tweed, | |
| And the green silent pastures, yet remain. | |
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