Picture of Daniel in the Lion's Den at Hamilton Palace
Picture of Daniel in the Lion's Den at Hamilton Palace - meaning Summary
Faith Amid Artifice
Wordsworth presents a museum tableau of Daniel among lions displayed at Hamilton Palace. He contrasts living, roaring beasts of the wilderness with the tame, lifeless specimens in a ducal collection, noting the eerie stillness around them. Daniel remains composed, his faith unshaken; the scene becomes a meditation on human artifice, the difference between appearance and reality, and trust in divine protection despite appearances of danger.
Read Complete AnalysesAmid a fertile region green with wood And fresh with rivers, well doth it become The Ducal Owner, in his Palace-home To naturalise this tawny Lion brood; Children of Art, that claim strange brotherhood, Couched in their Den, with those that roam at large Over the burning wilderness, and charge The wind with terror while they roar for food. But these are satiate, and a stillness drear Calls into life a more enduring fear; Yet is the Prophet calm, nor would the cave Daunt him - if his Companions, now bedrowsed Yawning and listless, were by hunger roused: Man placed him here, and God, he knows, can save.
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