Poem by William Wordsworth

Rural Architecture

There's George Fisher, Charles Fleming, and Reginald Shore,
Three rosy-cheeked School-boys, the highest not more
Than the height of a Counsellor's bag;
To the top of Great How did it please them to climb;
And there they built up, without mortar or lime,
A Man on the peak of the crag.

They built him of stones gathered up as they lay;
They built him and christened him all in one day,
An Urchin both vigorous and hale;
And so without scruple they called him Ralph Jones.
Now Ralph is renowned for the length of his bones;
The Magog of Legberthwaite dale.

Just half a week after, the wind sallied forth,
And, in anger or merriment, out of the North
Coming on with a terrible pother,
From the peak of the crag blew the Giant away.
And what did these School-boys?—The very next day
They went and they built up another.

1. Incident, Characteristic of a Favourite Dog, Which Belonged to a Friend of the Author
2. Lines Written on a Tablet in a School
3. The Childless Father
4. Strange Fits of Passion
5. Louisa

Print

1743 Views

Last Poems

To Russian version