Calais 2
August 1802
Calais 2 - meaning Summary
Critique of Power Worship
Wordsworth condemns the spectacle of crowds flocking to honor a new ruler—here the rise of Napoleon—portraying people from all ranks as meekly adoring the "new-born Majesty." He argues that true loyalty requires time and moral firmness, not sudden deference after truth and liberty have fled. The poem rebukes those willing to accept authoritarian power out of fear or convenience, calling such submissiveness shameful.
Read Complete AnalysesIS it a reed that's shaken by the wind, Or what is it that ye go forth to see? Lords, lawyers, statesmen, squires of low degree, Men known, and men unknown, sick, lame, and blind, Post forward all, like creatures of one kind, With first-fruit offerings crowd to bend the knee In France, before the new-born Majesty. 'Tis ever thus. Ye men of prostrate mind, A seemly reverence may be paid to power; But that's a loyal virtue, never sown In haste, nor springing with a transient shower: When truth, when sense, when liberty were flown, What hardship had it been to wait an hour? Shame on you, feeble Heads, to slavery prone!
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