April 2006

Notable and Quotable: William Wordsworth

William Wordsworth was born in the month of April and, 80 years later, died in April (April 7, 1770 - April 23, 1850). Quotations from the Romantic poet are used to illustrate word senses for 134 entries in the Unabridged Dictionary. We've collected a few dozen of the more poetic examples.

Remember, finding quotations from a poet or author is easy. Just choose your reference—the Unabridged or the Collegiate—and click on Advanced Search. Type the last name of the author in the Author Quoted box and click on Search.

adventitious adjective
"in works of imagination and sentiment . . . meter is but adventitious to composition"

affection noun
"that serene and blessed mood in which the affections gently lead us on"

awake verb
"cast off your bonds; awake, arise"

beshrew verb, archaic ("curse")
"beshrew all them that are in love untrue"

betide verb
"hope . . . must abide with all of us, whate'er betide"

bolt verb
"to have been bolted forth, thrust out abruptly into Fortune's way"

bourn noun, archaic ("goal; destination")
"sole bourn, sole wish, sole object of my song"

chain verb
"buried now and lost in silent pools, now in strong eddies chained"

counterturn noun
"amid the turns and counterturns, the strife and various trials of our complex being"

deaf adjective, obsolete ("muffled, stifled, deadened")
"mocks the dull ear of Time with deaf abortive sound"

desolate adjective
"depressed and desolate of soul . . . and filled with anxious fear"

dimple noun
"the pool's dark surface breaks into dimples"

else adverb
"a tower of refuge built for the else forlorn"

errant adjective
"errant those exiles . . . who with their burden traverse hill and dale"

espy verb
"flowers we espy beside the torrent growing, flowers that peep forth from many a cleft and chink"

harass verb
"I have been harassed with the toil of verse"

insinuate verb
"the insinuated scoff of coward tongues"

intershoot verb
"hues . . . intershooting and to sight lost and recovered"

intrepid adjective
"the intrepid guardians of the place, hourly exposed to death, with famine worn, and suffering under many a perilous wound"

inward adjective
"that inward eye which is the bliss of solitude"

merit verb
"if hope's familiar whispers merit faith"

poesy noun
"the bold wings of poesy"

rake verb
"like clouds that rake the mountain summits"

rebound noun
"such rebounds our inward ear catches sometimes from afar"

reflux noun
"the fluxes and refluxes of the mind when agitated by the great and simple affection"

serene adjective
"serene will be our days and bright"

sleepless adjective
"the sleepless ocean murmurs for all ears"

sounding adjective
"the sounding cataract haunted me like a passion"

stygian adjective
"upon those roseate lips a stygian hue"

trail verb
"trailing clouds of glory do we come"

witchery noun
"the witchery of the soft blue sky"