The Poetical Works of William Wordsworth — Volume 7 (of 8)

Name: The Poetical Works of William Wordsworth — Volume 7 (of 8)
Author: Wordsworth, William

Wordsworth, William

English poetry -- 18th century; English poetry -- 19th century

PATRIOTIC SYMPATHIES


    Last night, without a voice, that Vision spake
    Fear to my Soul, and sadness which might seem[243]
    Wholly[244] dissevered from our present theme;
    Yet, my belovèd Country! I partake[245]
    Of kindred agitations for thy sake;                                5
    Thou, too, dost visit oft[246] my midnight dream;
    Thy[247] glory meets me with the earliest beam
    Of light, which tells that Morning is awake.
    If aught impair thy[248] beauty or destroy,
    Or but forebode destruction, I deplore                            10
    With filial love the sad vicissitude;
    If thou hast[249] fallen, and righteous Heaven restore
    The prostrate, then my spring-time is renewed,
    And sorrow bartered for exceeding joy.

FOOTNOTES:

[243] 1845.

    ... this Vision spake
    Fear to my Spirit--passion that might seem 1822.

    ... this Vision spake
    Fear to my Soul, and sadness that might seem 1837.

[244] 1827.

    To lie ... 1822.

[245] 1832.

    Yet do I love my Country--and partake 1822.

[246] 1832.

    ... for her sake;
    She visits oftentimes ... 1822.

[247] 1832.

    Her ... 1822.

[248] 1832.

    ... her ... 1822.

[249] 1832.

    If she hath ... 1822.




III

CHARLES THE SECOND


    Who comes--with rapture greeted, and caress'd
    With frantic love--his kingdom to regain?[250]
    Him Virtue's Nurse, Adversity, in vain
    Received, and fostered in her iron breast:
    For all she taught of hardiest and of best,                        5
    Or would have taught, by discipline of pain
    And long privation, now dissolves amain,
    Or is remembered only to give zest
    To wantonness--Away, Circean revels![251]
    But for what gain? if England soon must sink                      10
    Into a gulf which all distinction levels--
    That bigotry may swallow the good name,[252][253]
    And, with that draught, the life-blood: misery, shame,
    By Poets loathed; from which Historians shrink!

FOOTNOTES:

[250] "No event ever marked a deeper or a more lasting change in the
temper of the English people, than the entry of Charles the Second into
Whitehall. With it modern England begins." (Green's _Short History of
the English People_, chap. ix. sec. 1.)--ED.

[251] "The Restoration brought Charles to Whitehall; and in an instant
the whole face of England was changed. All that was noblest and best in
Puritanism was whirled away." (Green, chap. ix. sec. I.) The excesses
of every kind that came in with the Restoration were notorious.--ED.

[252] 1837.

    Already stands our Country on the brink
    Of bigot rage, that all distinction levels
    Of truth and falsehood, swallowing the good name, 1822.

[253] In 1672 the Duke of York was publicly received into the Church of
Rome.--ED.




IV

LATITUDINARIANISM

Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.

Opening the text

The Poetical Works of William Wordsworth — Volume 7 (of 8)Wordsworth, William

Religion

The Poetical Works of William Wordsworth — Volume 7 (of 8)

Wordsworth, William

English poetry -- 18th century; English poetry -- 19th century

PATRIOTIC SYMPATHIES


    Last night, without a voice, that Vision spake
    Fear to my Soul, and sadness which might seem[243]
    Wholly[244] dissevered from our present theme;
    Yet, my belovèd Country! I partake[245]
    Of kindred agitations for thy sake;                                5
    Thou, too, dost visit oft[246] my midnight dream;
    Thy[247] glory meets me with the earliest beam
    Of light, which tells that Morning is awake.
    If aught impair thy[248] beauty or destroy,
    Or but forebode destruction, I deplore                            10
    With filial love the sad vicissitude;
    If thou hast[249] fallen, and righteous Heaven restore
    The prostrate, then my spring-time is renewed,
    And sorrow bartered for exceeding joy.

FOOTNOTES:

[243] 1845.

    ... this Vision spake
    Fear to my Spirit--passion that might seem 1822.

    ... this Vision spake
    Fear to my Soul, and sadness that might seem 1837.

[244] 1827.

    To lie ... 1822.

[245] 1832.

    Yet do I love my Country--and partake 1822.

[246] 1832.

    ... for her sake;
    She visits oftentimes ... 1822.

[247] 1832.

    Her ... 1822.

[248] 1832.

    ... her ... 1822.

[249] 1832.

    If she hath ... 1822.




III

CHARLES THE SECOND


    Who comes--with rapture greeted, and caress'd
    With frantic love--his kingdom to regain?[250]
    Him Virtue's Nurse, Adversity, in vain
    Received, and fostered in her iron breast:
    For all she taught of hardiest and of best,                        5
    Or would have taught, by discipline of pain
    And long privation, now dissolves amain,
    Or is remembered only to give zest
    To wantonness--Away, Circean revels![251]
    But for what gain? if England soon must sink                      10
    Into a gulf which all distinction levels--
    That bigotry may swallow the good name,[252][253]
    And, with that draught, the life-blood: misery, shame,
    By Poets loathed; from which Historians shrink!

FOOTNOTES:

[250] "No event ever marked a deeper or a more lasting change in the
temper of the English people, than the entry of Charles the Second into
Whitehall. With it modern England begins." (Green's _Short History of
the English People_, chap. ix. sec. 1.)--ED.

[251] "The Restoration brought Charles to Whitehall; and in an instant
the whole face of England was changed. All that was noblest and best in
Puritanism was whirled away." (Green, chap. ix. sec. I.) The excesses
of every kind that came in with the Restoration were notorious.--ED.

[252] 1837.

    Already stands our Country on the brink
    Of bigot rage, that all distinction levels
    Of truth and falsehood, swallowing the good name, 1822.

[253] In 1672 the Duke of York was publicly received into the Church of
Rome.--ED.




IV

LATITUDINARIANISM

Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.

The Poetical Works of William Wordsworth — Volume 7 (of 8)

The Poetical Works of William Wordsworth — Volume 7 (of 8)

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