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William Wordsworth (1770-1850)

November, 1806


              1Another year!--another deadly blow!
              2Another mighty Empire overthrown!
              3And We are left, or shall be left, alone;
              4The last that dare to struggle with the Foe.
              5'Tis well! from this day forward we shall know
              6That in ourselves our safety must be sought;
              7That by our own right hands it must be wrought;
              8That we must stand unpropped, or be laid low.
              9O dastard whom such foretaste doth not cheer!
            10We shall exult, if they who rule the land
            11Be men who hold its many blessings dear,
            12Wise, upright, valiant; not a servile band,
            13Who are to judge of danger which they fear,
            14And honour which they do not understand.

Notes

1-2] Prussia was overthrown by Napoleon's victory at Jena, October 14, 1806.

10-14] if they who rule the land .... Pitt had died in January 1806 and Fox in September. Lord Grenville succeeded Pitt as Prime Minister.

Online text copyright © 2009, Ian Lancashire (the Department of English) and the University of Toronto.
Published by the Web Development Group, Information Technology Services, University of Toronto Libraries.

Original text: William Wordsworth, Poems in Two Volumes (1807). See The Manuscript of William Wordsworth's Poems, in Two Volumes (1807): A Facsimile (London: British Library, 1984). bib MASS (Massey College, Toronto).
First publication date: 1807
RPO poem editor: J. R. MacGillivray
RP edition: 3RP 2.388.
Recent editing: 2:2002/3/20

Form: sonnet
Rhyme: abbaaccadedede

Other poems by William Wordsworth

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