Dedication

by William Wordsworth — a poem card from Justes Mots

A dedicatory poem to Wordsworth's intimate circle of fellow-travelers, expressing gratitude for their companionship and the role their love and memory play in enlivening his verses. Rather than claiming artistic mastery, he credits them with supplying the life and truth to his work through their vivid recollection. The poem celebrates profound bonds of affection and mutual understanding.

Dear Fellow-travellers![GZ] think not that the Muse,
To You presenting these memorial Lays,
Can hope the general eye thereon would gaze,[468]
As on a mirror that gives back the hues
Of living Nature; no—though free to choose
The greenest bowers, the most inviting ways,
The fairest landscapes and the brightest days—
Her skill she tried with less ambitious views.[469]…

Themes: gratitude · friendship · admiration · love