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The Poetical Works of William Wordsworth — Volume 1 by William Wordsworth
page 302 of 675 (44%)
The wise man to that scorn which wisdom holds
Unlawful, ever. O be wiser, Thou!
Instructed that true knowledge leads to love; 60
True dignity abides with him alone
Who, in the silent hour of inward thought,
Can still suspect, and still revere himself,
In lowliness of heart.


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The place where this Yew-tree stood may be found without difficulty. It
was about three-quarters of a mile from Hawkshead, on the eastern shore
of the lake, a little to the left above the present highway, as one goes
towards Sawrey. Mr. Bowman, the son of Wordsworth's last teacher at the
grammar-school of Hawkshead, told me that it stood about forty yards
nearer the village than the yew which is now on the roadside, and is
sometimes called "Wordsworth's Yew." In the poet's school-days the road
passed right through the unenclosed common, and the tree was a
conspicuous object. It was removed, he says, owing to the popular belief
that its leaves were poisonous, and might injure the cattle grazing in
the common. The present tree is erroneously called "Wordsworth's Yew."
Its proximity to the place where the tree of the poem stood has given
rise to the local tradition.--Ed.


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