London, 1802 Lyrics
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;
O 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.
About
In the notes collected by Isabella Fenwick in 1843, Wordsworth wrote about this poem and a similar one that precedes it (“Written in London, September, 1802):
written immediately after my return from France and London, when I could not but be struck, as here described, with the vanity and parade of our own country especially in great towns and cities, as contrasted with the quiet, and I may say the desolation, that the revolution had produced in France. This must be borne in mind, or else the reader may think that in this and the succeeding sonnets I have exaggerated the mischief engendered and fostered among us by undisturbed wealth."
In the quote he primarily refers to the other poem. Here, Wordsworth is taking Milton not only as a poetic ideal, but also as an ethical ideal, a life to imitate, not just a poet.
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- London, 1802
