William Wordsworth

Composed Upon An Evening of Extraordinary Splendor and Beauty

effulgence/disappeared

Wordsworth sets up a paradox: the sunset's beauty *persists* rather than vanishing. This persistence is what makes it spiritually significant—fleeting beauty wouldn't matter as much.

I
Had this effulgence disappeared

effulgence/disappeared

Wordsworth sets up a paradox: the sunset's beauty *persists* rather than vanishing. This persistence is what makes it spiritually significant—fleeting beauty wouldn't matter as much.

With flying haste, I might have sent,
Among the speechless clouds, a look
Of blank astonishment;
But 'tis endued with power to stay,
And sanctify one closing day,
That frail Mortality may see--

what 'can' be

The scare quotes around 'can' mark a philosophical shift. He's not describing what *is* (the actual sunset) but what *is possible*—a vision of potential, not fact. This distinction matters for understanding his Romantic project.

What is?--ah no, but what 'can' be!
Time was when field and watery cove
With modulated echoes rang,
While choirs of fervent Angels sang

Angels sang / Their vespers

Wordsworth invokes Christian liturgy (vespers = evening prayer service) to establish that this sunset rivals angelic worship. He's claiming natural beauty equals or exceeds religious ceremony—a bold Romantic assertion.

Their vespers in the grove;
Or, crowning, star-like, each some sovereign height,
Warbled, for heaven above and earth below,
Strains suitable to both.--Such holy rite,
Methinks, if audibly repeated now
From hill or valley, could not move
Sublimer transport, purer love,
Than doth this silent spectacle--the gleam--
The shadow--and the peace supreme!
II

No sound is uttered

Section II opens with negation: the harmony is *silent*. Wordsworth is describing a visual-spiritual experience that transcends sensory input—the eye sees what the ear cannot hear.

No sound is uttered,--but a deep
And solemn harmony pervades

No sound is uttered

Section II opens with negation: the harmony is *silent*. Wordsworth is describing a visual-spiritual experience that transcends sensory input—the eye sees what the ear cannot hear.

The hollow vale from steep to steep,
And penetrates the glades.
Far-distant images draw nigh,
Called forth by wondrous potency

gem-like hues

The sunset's light doesn't just illuminate; it *transforms* (imbues) ordinary pastoral scenes into precious objects. This is Romantic vision: perception that elevates the mundane.

Of beamy radiance, that imbues,
Whate'er it strikes, with gem-like hues!

gem-like hues

The sunset's light doesn't just illuminate; it *transforms* (imbues) ordinary pastoral scenes into precious objects. This is Romantic vision: perception that elevates the mundane.

In vision exquisitely clear,
Herds range along the mountain side;
And glistening antlers are descried;
And gilded flocks appear.
Thine is the tranquil hour, purpureal Eve!
But long as god-like wish, or hope divine,
Informs my spirit, ne'er can I believe
That this magnificence is wholly thine!
--From worlds not quickened by the sun
A portion of the gift is won;
An intermingling of Heaven's pomp is spread
On ground which British shepherds tread!
III

broken ties / Afflict

Wordsworth suddenly addresses the suffering—those with grief or injury. The sunset becomes therapeutic, offering them a 'glorious scale' to climb toward transcendence. This is consolation poetry doing actual work.

And, if there be whom broken ties
Afflict, or injuries assail,
Yon hazy ridges to their eyes
Present a glorious scale,
Climbing suffused with sunny air,
To stop--no record hath told where!
And tempting Fancy to ascend,
And with immortal Spirits blend!
--Wings at my shoulders seem to play;
But, rooted here, I stand and gaze
On those bright steps that heavenward raise
Their practicable way.
Come forth, ye drooping old men, look abroad,
And see to what fair countries ye are bound!
And if some traveller, weary of his road,
Hath slept since noon-tide on the grassy ground,
Ye Genii! to his covert speed;
And wake him with such gentle heed
As may attune his soul to meet the dower
Bestowed on this transcendent hour!
IV
Such hues from their celestial Urn
Were wont to stream before mine eye,
Where'er it wandered in the morn
Of blissful infancy.
This glimpse of glory, why renewed?
Nay, rather speak with gratitude;
For, if a vestige of those gleams
Survived, 'twas only in my dreams.
Dread Power! whom peace and calmness serve
No less than Nature's threatening voice,
If aught unworthy be my choice,
From THEE if I would swerve;
Oh, let thy grace remind me of the light
Full early lost, and fruitlessly deplored;
Which, at this moment, on my waking sight
Appears to shine, by miracle restored;
My soul, though yet confined to earth,

second birth

Wordsworth explicitly names this experience as rebirth or renewal of childhood vision. He's not just describing a sunset; he's claiming recovery of lost visionary power through natural perception.

second birth

Wordsworth explicitly names this experience as rebirth or renewal of childhood vision. He's not just describing a sunset; he's claiming recovery of lost visionary power through natural perception.

Rejoices in a second birth!
--'Tis past, the visionary splendour fades;
And night approaches with her shades.

visionary splendour fades

The final turn: the vision *ends*. Wordsworth acknowledges the sunset's impermanence, but the poem's structure suggests the spiritual insight persists even as the light does not. The experience matters more than its duration.

Source Wikipedia Poetry Foundation

Reading Notes

Wordsworth's Recovery Narrative

This poem is fundamentally about *getting something back*. In Section IV, Wordsworth reveals that he hasn't seen these visionary colors since childhood—they survived only in dreams and memory. The sunset functions as a miraculous restoration of his lost imaginative power. This matters because Wordsworth spent much of his career anxious about losing the intensity of childhood perception. By the time he wrote this (1818), he was in his late 40s, writing retrospectively about vision recovered.

The poem's architecture reflects this recovery: Sections I-III build the experience in present tense, but Section IV reframes it as *return* of something ancient. When he writes 'My soul, though yet confined to earth, / Rejoices in a second birth,' he's claiming that natural beauty can restore what age and experience seemed to have taken. This isn't nostalgia—it's active spiritual renewal.

Silent Vision: What Wordsworth Means by 'Harmony'

Pay attention to how Wordsworth describes the sunset without sound. Section II opens with 'No sound is uttered,--but a deep / And solemn harmony pervades'—a paradox that defines Romantic perception. The harmony is *silent* because it's not audible but *visible*. The light itself creates order and meaning (what he calls 'harmony') through color, shadow, and spatial arrangement.

This is crucial: Wordsworth is arguing that vision alone can produce the same spiritual effect as music or prayer. When he compares the sunset to 'choirs of fervent Angels' singing vespers, he's not being merely decorative—he's claiming that this visual experience equals or exceeds religious ceremony. The 'gem-like hues' and 'beamy radiance' do the work that angelic voices would do. This is why the poem addresses suffering people in Section III: the sunset's visual order offers genuine consolation, not just distraction. It's a complete revaluation of what beauty *does*.