RPO -- William Wordsworth : Written in London. September, 1802

William Wordsworth (1770-1850)

Written in London. September, 1802

1O Friend! I know not which way I must look

2For comfort, being, as I am, opprest,

3To think that now our life is only drest

4For show; mean handy-work of craftsman, cook,

5Or groom! -- We must run glittering like a brook

6In the open sunshine, or we are unblest:

7The wealthiest man among us is the best:

8No grandeur now in nature or in book

9Delights us. Rapine, avarice, expense,

10This is idolatry; and these we adore:

11Plain living and high thinking are no more:

12The homely beauty of the good old cause

13Is gone; our peace, our fearful innocence,

14And pure religion breathing household laws.

Notes

1] "This was written immediately after my return from France to 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" (W. W., in 1843).
O Friend!: Coleridge.

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 Library, Toronto).
First publication date: 1807
RPO poem editor: J. R. MacGillivray
RP edition: 3RP 2.373.
Recent editing: 2:2002/3/20

Form: sonnet
Rhyme: abbaabba cdd ede

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