Great Men Have Been Among Us
Great Men Have Been Among Us - context Summary
Admiration for Seventeenth-century Figures
This sonnet, part of Wordsworth's Ecclesiastical Sonnets, praises prominent seventeenth-century English intellectual and political figures—Sidney, Marvel, Harrington, Young Vane and others associated with Milton—as moral leaders who combined thought and action. The poem contrasts that era's steady, principled leadership with the poet's sense of contemporary cultural emptiness, including a perceived lack of comparable spirits or landmark works abroad, notably in France.
Read Complete AnalysesGREAT men have been among us; hands that penned And tongues that uttered wisdom--better none: The later Sidney, Marvel, Harrington, Young Vane, and others who called Milton friend. These moralists could act and comprehend: They knew how genuine glory was put on; Taught us how rightfully nation shone In splendour: what strength was, that would not bend But in magnanimous meekness. France, 'tis strange, Hath brought forth no such souls as we had then. Perpetual emptiness! unceasing change! No single volume paramount, no code, No master spirit, no determined road; But equally a want of books and men!
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