Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, ed. Poems of Places: An Anthology in 31 Volumes.
England: Vols. I–IV. 1876–79.

Duddon, the River

The River Duddon

By William Wordsworth (1770–1850)

O MOUNTAIN stream! the shepherd and his cot

Are privileged inmates of deep solitude;

Nor would the nicest anchorite exclude

A field or two of brighter green, or plot

Of tillage-ground, that seemeth like a spot

Of stationary sunshine:—thou hast viewed

These only, Duddon! with their paths renewed

By fits and starts, yet this contents thee not.

Thee hath some awful spirit impelled to leave,

Utterly to desert, the haunts of men,

Though simple thy companions were and few;

And through this wilderness a passage cleave,

Attended but by thy own voice, save when

The clouds and fowls of the air thy way pursue!