466. Matthew Arnold commenting on this line says; "The right sort of
verse to choose from Wordsworth, if we are to seize his true and most
characteristic form of expression, is a line like this from Michael:
'And never lifted up a single stone.' There is nothing subtle in it,
no heightening, no study of poetic style strictly so called, at all;
yet it is an expression of the highest and most truly expressive kind."
467f. Note the noble simplicity and pathos of these closing lines.
There is a reserved force of pent-up pathos here, which without effort
reaches the height of dramatic effectiveness.