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Not seldom, clad in radiant vest, Deceitfully goes forth the morn; Not seldom evening, in the west, Sinks smilingly forsworn. The smoothest seas will sometimes prove To the confiding bark untrue; And if she trust the stars above, They can be treacherous too. The umbrageous oak, in pomp outspread, Full oft, when storms the welkin rend, Draws lightning down upon the head It promised to defend. But Thou art true, incarnate Lord! Who didst vouchsafe for man to die, Thy smile is sure, Thy plighted word No change can falsify.
Not seldom, clad in radiant vest, Deceitfully goes forth the morn; Not seldom evening, in the west, Sinks smilingly forsworn. The smoothest seas will sometimes prove To the confiding bark untrue; And if she trust the stars above, They can be treacherous too. The umbrageous oak, in pomp outspread, Full oft, when storms the welkin rend, Draws lightning down upon the head It promised to defend. But Thou art true, incarnate Lord! Who didst vouchsafe for man to die, Thy smile is sure, Thy plighted word No change can falsify.
Approximate author period: c. 1810 AD · industrial
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- Author or tradition
- William Wordsworth
Attribution: attributed - Country attributed
- Not established
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- Approximate author period: c. 1810 AD · industrial
author lifetime midpoint (1770–1850)
An author lifetime, approximate period or collection date is not necessarily the date when these words were first written or spoken. - Recorded source
- A Cyclopædia of Sacred Poetical Quotations (catalogued1888) (1888 AD)
Page 629 · printed citation: Wordsworth · subject: TRUTH
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Listed in the author section of Bartlett’s ninth-edition anthology, in the linked 1905 printing. Dates reflect that historical edition and may differ from modern scholarship.
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