as happy as a boy

The juxtaposition between this line and the former echoes a definite Zen ethos, althought I am sure that Wordsworth did not intend on this Eastern influence in the early 19th century (when Zen had not yet become chic). The narrator does not hear "the woods and distant waters roar" because he is so overwhelmed by the power of nature. Like the Zen beginner's mind, being on the river Wye transports him back to a time when he had not yet been conditioned; that is, the external stimuli that he perceives has not been filtered through the "red tape" or complexity of adulthood. His life is simplified, and he is consequently "as happy as a boy"

Despite this momentary regression to the Zen beginner's mind, the narrator soon taints this "purity" with his conscience. Immediately following this peak in his spirits, he posits that he is overdue for dejection: "As high as we have mounted in delight/ In our dejection do we sink as low;/ To me that morning did it happen so." He imposes a self-consciousness upon himself that is entirely absent in the beginner's mind, or when he is "as happy as a boy". "All the ways of men, so vain and melancholy" have seized control of the narrator, making his previous mental utopia impossible.