London, 1802 by William WordsworthAnalysisThis poem is about how England has fallen from grace and how there are no new ideas in England from the church, from the battlefield, and no new ideas from its writers. This is a prayer to John Milton, who wrote Paradise Lost. He is asking that Milton would come back and return England to it's former glory, to revolutionize writing and ideas again. He appeals to Milton's ego, by saying, "Thou hadst a voice whose sound was like the sea: pure as the naked heavens, majestic, free." This poem is a good example of Romanticism because it gives the idea of an afterlife and being able to talk to the dead and ask for their help.
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London, 1802Milton! thou should'st 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 thy heart The lowliest duties on herself did lay. Source: Shmoop |