London
London - context Summary
Composed Amid English Turmoil
Written in 1802 and published in 1807 in Poems, in Two Volumes, this sonnet addresses political and social unease in England. Wordsworth invokes John Milton as the moral exemplar the nation needs, lamenting stagnation and loss of traditional virtues while urging a return to manners, freedom, and public spirit. The poem frames personal admiration for Milton as a response to contemporary national decline and the poet’s civic anxieties.
Read Complete AnalysesMilton! thou shouldst be living at this hour: England hath need of thee: she is a fen Of stagnant waters: altar, sword, and pen, Fireside, the heroic wealth of hall and bower, Have forfeited their ancient English dower Of inward happiness. We are selfish men; Oh! raise us up, return to us again; And give us manners, virtue, freedom, power. Thy soul was like a Star, and dwelt apart: Thou hadst a voice whose sound was like the sea: Pure as the naked heavens, majestic, free, So didst thou travel on life's common way, In cheerful godliness; and yet the heart The lowliest duties on herself did lay.
1802
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