Academy of American Poets
View Cart | Log In 
Subscribe | More Info 
Find a Poet or Poem
Advanced Search >
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
William Wordsworth
William Wordsworth
William Wordsworth was born on April 7, 1770, in Cockermouth, Cumbria, England. Wordsworth's mother died when he was eight--this experience shapes much of his later work. Wordsworth attended Hawkshead Grammar...
More >
FURTHER READING
Poems About Tragedy and Grief
A Litany
by Gregory Orr
Against Elegies
by Marilyn Hacker
Alabanza: In Praise of Local 100
by Martín Espada
Assault to Abjury
by Raymond McDaniel
Easter 1916
by W. B. Yeats
Facing It
by Yusef Komunyakaa
Hum
by Ann Lauterbach
I measure every Grief I meet (561)
by Emily Dickinson
In Louisiana
by Albert Bigelow Paine
Lycidas
by John Milton
Memorial Day for the War Dead
by Yehuda Amichai
On His Deceased Wife
by John Milton
Ozymandias
by Percy Bysshe Shelley
Requiescat
by Matthew Arnold
Richard Cory
by Edwin Arlington Robinson
Rose Aylmer
by Walter Savage Landor
September 1, 1939
by W. H. Auden
Stillbirth
by Laure-Anne Bosselaar
The Hour and What Is Dead
by Li-Young Lee
The Second Coming
by W. B. Yeats
The Stolen Child
by W. B. Yeats
Related Prose
Twisting and Turning
by Maureen N. McLane
Adopt a Poet | Add to Notebook | E-mail to Friend | Print
Surprised By Joy  
by William Wordsworth
Read by Susan Stewart
Get Flash Player

Surprised by joy—impatient as the Wind
I turned to share the transport—Oh! with whom
But Thee, deep buried in the silent tomb,
That spot which no vicissitude can find?
Love, faithful love, recalled thee to my mind—
But how could I forget thee? Through what power,
Even for the least division of an hour,
Have I been so beguiled as to be blind
To my most grievous loss?—That thought's return
Was the worst pang that sorrow ever bore,
Save one, one only, when I stood forlorn,
Knowing my heart's best treasure was no more;
That neither present time, nor years unborn
Could to my sight that heavenly face restore.



Share Digg StumbleUpon Facebook E-mail to Friend


Audio Clip
November 8, 2008
New York University, New York City
From the Academy Audio Archive
Larger TypeLarger Type | Home | Help | Contact Us | Privacy Policy Copyright © 1997 - 2010 by Academy of American Poets.