This sonnet was written in 1803 and published in 1807.
"DARK AND MORE DARK THE SHADES OF EVENING FELL"
This sonnet was written after a journey across the Hambleton Hills,
Yorkshire. Wordsworth says: "It was composed October 4th, 1802, after a
journey on a day memorable to me--the day of my marriage. The horizon
commanded by those hills is most magnificent." Dorothy Wordsworth,
describing the sky-prospect, says: "Far off from us in the western sky we
saw the shapes of castles, ruins among groves, a great spreading wood,
rocks and single trees, a minster with its tower unusually distinct,
minarets in another quarter, and a round Grecian temple also; the colours
of the shy of a bright gray, and the forms of a sober gray, with dome."
"SURPRISED BY JOY--IMPATIENT AS THE WIND"
This sonnet was suggested by the poet's daughter Catherine long after her
death. She died in her fourth year, on June 4, 1812. Wordsworth was
absent from home at the time of her death. The sonnet was published in
1815.
"HAIL, TWILIGHT SOVEREIGN OF A PEACEFUL HOUR"
This sonnet was published in 1815.
"I THOUGHT OF THEE, MY PARTNER AND MY GUIDE"
This sonnet, which concludes "The River Duddon" series, is usually
entitled "After-Thought". The series was written at intervals, and was
finally published in 1820. "The Duddon rises on Wrynose Fell, near to
'Three Shire Stone,' where Westmoreland, Cumberland, and Lancashire meet."
"SUCH AGE, HOW BEAUTIFUL!"
This sonnet, published in 1827, was inscribed to Lady Fitzgerald at the
time in her seventieth year.