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--> Milton! thou should'st be living at this hour: ''"London, 1802"'' is a Sonnet by the English Romantic poet William Wordsworth , who in it castigates the English as stagnant and selfish, and eulogizes seventeenth-century poet John Milton . Composed in 1802, "London, 1802" was published for the first time in ''Poems, in Two Volumes'' (1807). Like all sonnets, its 14 lines are written in Iambic Pentameter , and its rhyme scheme is ''a-b-b-a, a-b-b-a, c-d-d-e, c-e''. Wordsworth begins the poem by wishing that Milton was still alive, for "England hath need of thee." This is because England has stagnated, its people selfish and unhappy, its splendor and power lost. But Milton could change all that. Milton could "raise us up, return to us again; / And give us manners, virtue, freedom, power." In the six subsequent lines (the sestet) following the first eight lines (the octet), Wordsworth explains why Milton could improve the English condition. Milton's soul, he says, was as bright and noble as a star, and it "dwelt apart" from the crowd, felt not the urge to conform. Milton's voice was "like the sea," "pure as the naked heavens, majestic, free". Furthermore, he never resented the ordinary nature of his life, but instead he "travel {Link without Title} on life's common way", remaining happy, pure ("cheerful godliness"), and humble (taking the "lowliest duties" on himself) always. "London, 1802" reveals both Wordsworth's moralism and his growing conservatism. Phillips, Brian. ''SparkNote on Wordsworth's Poetry''. "London, 1802." 17 Aug. 2007. http://www.sparknotes.com/poetry/wordsworth/section6.rhtml Wordsworth frequently sought to "communicate natural morality to his readers" through his poetry. Ibid In this sonnet, he urges morality and selflessness on his readers, criticizing the English for being stagnant and selfish, for lacking "manners, virtue, {Link without Title} freedom." But he also refers to "inward happiness" as a natural English right, or "dower," and asks Milton to bestow "power" as well as virtue on the English. These are among Wordsworth's "few explicitly nationalistic verses--shades, perhaps, of the conservatism that took hold in his old age." Ibid References |
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