The Poetry Corner

On Revisiting Dunolly Castle

By William Wordsworth

The captive Bird was gone; to cliff or moor Perchance had flown, delivered by the storm; Or he had pined, and sunk to feed the worm: Him found we not: but, climbing, a tall tower, There saw, impaved with rude fidelity Of art mosaic, in a roofless floor, An Eagle with stretched wings, but beamless eye An Eagle that could neither wail nor soar. Effigy of the Vanished, (shall I dare To call thee so?) or symbol of fierce deeds And of the towering courage which past times Rejoiced in-take, whate'er thou be, a share, Not undeserved, of the memorial rhymes That animate my way where'er it leads!