On This Day I Complete My Thirty-Sixth Year

The poem exemplifies Romantic ideals of self-examination, reverence for nature, and the search for meaning in human experience.

On this day I complete my thirty-sixth year.

‘Tis time to muse, and, after musing, to retire

Into my cell, a weeper, yet a seer;

Into the vale of soul-making to inquire

What I have lived for, and what I may yet do,

Whether my mind has been a faithful guide

To my affections, and my heart kept true

To the sweet dreams that visited my youth.

I see the mountains and the rivers, and the plain,

All calm, and yet all living, breathing, free;

I see the sun and moon, the growing grain,

And feel that Nature’s voice speaks urgently

To him who hearkens with a humble mind,

And that the things of earth and heaven combined

Teach lessons of endurance, love, and kind.

Several interwoven themes define Wordsworth’s meditation:

The poem exemplifies the Romantic intertwining of inner life, ethical reflection, and natural observation.