Seen in a wave under green leaves.
Shelley, _Prometheus Unbound_, iii, 4.

In later editions Wordsworth altered these lines as follows:

To cut across the image. 1809. To cross the bright reflection. 1820.

54-60. The effect of rapid motion is admirably described. The spinning
effect which Wordsworth evidently has in mind we have all noticed in the
fields which seem to revolve when viewed from a swiftly moving: train.
However, a skater from the low level of a stream would see only the
fringe of trees sweep past him. The darkness and the height of the banks
would not permit him to see the relatively motionless objects in the
distance in either hand.

57-58. This method of stopping short upon one's heels might prove
disastrous.

58-60. The effect of motion persists after the motion has ceased.

62 63. The apparent motion of the cliffs grows feebler by degrees until
"all was tranquil as a summer sea." In _The_ [Transcriber's note: the
rest of this footnote is missing from the original book because of a
printing error.]




TO THE REV. DR. WORDSWORTH