He treasured numberless experiences of this kind in his own life.

Some of them are set forth in the _Prelude_, that for instance on which the poem _The Thorn_ in the _Lyrical Ballads_ is based; they were one or other of them the occasion of most of his poems; the best of them produced his finest work--such a poem for instance as _Resolution and Independence_ or _Gipsies_, where some chance sight met with in one of the poet's walks is brooded over till it becomes charged with a tremendous significance for him and for all the world.

If we ask how he differentiated his experiences, which had most value for him, we shall find something deficient.

That is to say, things which were unique and precious to him do not always appear so to his readers.

He counted as gold much that we regard as dross.