How Sweet It Is, When Mother Fancy Rocks
HOW sweet it is, when mother Fancy rocks The wayward brain, to saunter through a wood! An old place, full of many a lovely brood, Tall trees, green arbours, and ground-flowers in flocks; And wild rose tip-toe upon hawthorn stocks, Like a bold Girl, who plays her agile pranks At Wakes and Fairs with wandering Mountebanks,-- When she stands cresting the Clown's head, and mocks The crowd beneath her. Verily I think, Such place to me is sometimes like a dream Or map of the whole world: thoughts, link by link, Enter through ears and eyesight, with such gleam Of all things, that at last in fear I shrink, And leap at once from the delicious stream.
How Sweet It Is, When Mother Fancy Rocks - meaning Summary
Imaginative Stroll in Woods
Wordsworth describes a fanciful, childlike reverie in which the imagination ('mother Fancy') soothes a restless mind as it wanders through an old wood. Rustic sights — trees, flowers, hawthorn with wild rose — stimulate linked thoughts and vivid sensory impressions. The scene feels at once dreamlike and like a compact map of the world, producing delight that becomes intense enough to startle the speaker into sudden withdrawal.
Read Complete Analyses
Feel free to be first to leave comment.