Upon the Same Event
Upon the Same Event - meaning Summary
Honor Must Be Earned
The poem reports how news of an end to servitude and of athletic triumph spreads quickly, provoking contrasting responses. The Aetolians sneer at those who expect honor without effort, arguing that glory and liberty must be won rather than passively received. Wordsworth presents complacency and entitlement as shameful, implying that true praise and freedom belong to those who struggle for them rather than to those who assume rewards will simply descend.
Read Complete AnalysesWHEN, far and wide, swift as the beams of morn The tidings past of servitude repealed, And of that joy which shook the Isthmian Field, The rough Aetolians smiled with bitter scorn. "'Tis known," cried they, "that he, who would adorn His envied temples with the Isthmian crown, Must either win, through effort of his own, The prize, or be content to see it worn By more deserving brows.--Yet so ye prop, Sons of the brave who fought at Marathon, Your feeble spirits! Greece her head hath bowed, As if the wreath of liberty thereon Would fix itself as smoothly as a cloud, Which, at Jove's will, descends on Pelion's top."
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