...and the hunted hare. So through the darkness and the cold we flew, And not a voice was idle. With the din, Meanwhile, the precipices rang aloud; The leafless...icy crag Tinkled like iron; while the distant hills 10 15 Of melancholy, not unnoticed; while the stars, Eastward, were sparkling clear, and in the west...

...exuberant halloos meet with subdued echoes of faintly Gothic import: not a voice was idle: with the din, Meanwhile, the precipices rang aloud, The leafless...tumult sent an alien sound Of melancholy not unnoticed. (/J 1799, bk. 1,ll. 162.-67) In its turn, such "alien sound of melancholy" attenuates the youths' overconfident...

...hare. So through the darkness and the cold we flew, And not a voice was idle; with the din Smitten, the precipices rang aloud; The leafless trees and every icy crag Tinkled like iron; while far distant hills Into the tumult sent an alien sound Of melancholy not unnoticed, while the stars...

...where, in games imitative of his earlier and solitary hunts, "not a voice was idle": . . . With the din, Meanwhile, the precipices rang aloud; The leafless...and in the west The orange sky of evening died away. (1.466-73) Although Wordsworth associates the haunting, alien sound of the echoing feet with death...

...woods all round the lake tinkle!"3* Here is Wordsworth's version, from recollections of Esthwaite: Meanwhile, the precipices rang aloud, The leafless...tumult sent an alien sound Of melancholy not unnoticed. . . . (1799, 1.163-67) Dorothy's response indicates another motive behind the beginnings of "the poem...

...Prelude: So through the darkness and the cold we flew, And not a voice was idle; with the din Smitten the precipices rang aloud; The leafless trees and every icy crag Tinkled like iron; while far distant hills Into the tumult sent an alien sound Of melancholy not unnoticed, while the stars...

...AND CONIFERS, WHITE RlVER NATIONAL FOREST RUBY RANGE, GUNNISON NATIONAL FOREST With the din Smitten, the precipices rang aloud; The leafless trees and every icy crag Tinkled like iron; while far-distant hills Into the tumult sent an alien sound Of melancholy. —William Wordsworth How bravely...

...cold we flew And not a voice was idle; with the din Meanwhile the precipices rang aloud; [Smitten] The leafless trees and every icy crag Tinkled like iron; while the distant hills [far] Into the tumult sent an alien sound Of melancholy not unnoticed, while the stars Eastward, were...

...for the moment, is the foreground, but in the distance other presences wait to make themselves felt: The leafless trees and every icy crag Tinkled like...tumult sent an alien sound Of melancholy, not unnoticed . . . (I, 163-7)r> The episode now wonderfully conveys the sensation of individual independence: I...

...halt. So through the darkness and the cold we flew, And not a voice was idle; with the din Smitten, the precipices rang aloud; The leafless trees and every icy crag Tinkled like iron; and oftentimes, When we had given our bodies to the wind, And all the shadowy banks on either side...