Wordsworth vs
Tennyson
<<Unease in the
English society>>
The two poems to compare and analyze will be “
These two poems to compare are
from different authors and, at the same time, written in atmospheres completely
different; “London 1802”, composed in 1802, belongs to the Romantic period, covered
from the middle of the 18th Century to 19th, while the
second one, “
In a spite of the differences
between these different periods, both works have several similarities between
the content of the poem and moreover, “England
and America in 1782” could be a link between both poems, because the social
and political environment of that time in England could generate the main
causes of the problems for that society and bringing the consequences seen in
the other poem, “London 1802”.
The two poems are expressing
or could be a kind of complaint about the society and policy of that time,
periods full of changes as a consequence of the revolution and wars. The first
one, “London 1802” was created in a
period linked to the Industrial Revolution, which took place in England from
the second half of the 18th Century to the beginnings of the 19th,
whereas the second one, “England and
America in 1782” was a written when the end of the Industrial Revolution
was not far away for that English society.
To begin with, the first poem to be analyzed will be “
“The poem reveals both
Wordsworth’s moralism and his growing conservatism.
Wordsworth frequently sought to communicate natural morality to his readers
through his poetry. In this sonnet, he urges morality and selflessness on his
readers, criticizing the English for being stagnant and selfish, for lacking manners, virtue, and freedom. But he
also refers to inward happiness as a natural English right or “dower”, and asks
Analyzing the form of the
sonnet, is observed that “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.”2
The sonnet is addressed to the
dead poet John Milton, as can be seen in the first line of the poem “
The third line has a great
number of metaphors, such as “altar,
sword, and pen”; the first one, altar, is meaning lack of religion,
people from
As can be observed in the
fifth line, “Have forfeited their ancient
English dower”, people are renouncing to the English skills and power which
they
had
in past times and have lost due to the society seems weaker every time.
The next lines “Of inward happiness. We are selfish men;
Oh! raise us up, return to us again;”
Means “John Milton, the author of Paradise Lost, about the fall of man, the
temptation of Adam and Eve by Satan”4. In other words, this is a
kind of punishment to the
society to be so selfish, and now is time to change and punish everyonewho has committed mistakes. On the contrary, people are asking for freedom, power, virtue and manners to revive of miseries.
Afterwards, William Wordsworth
is praising the poet John Milton, numbering his uncountable gifts such as “thy soul was like a star”(line 9), “Thou hadst a voice whose sound was like the
sea”(line 10), “Pure as the naked
heavens, majestic, free”(line 11) and a great number of praises trough the
poem. “These virtues are precisely what Wordsworth saw as lacking in the
English men and women of his day” 5. At the same time, the author is
shouting
To conclude this poem, can be seen through the whole poem
that is kind yearning from the author for Milton’s death, since, Milton knew
how to live his life in that society, in a spite of the problems, and how to
face the different circumstances and help people to act. Due to
Starting
with the second poem, “
Referring to the form of the poem, it can be seen the same
kind of rhyme in the entire poem, in such way that this is: “ABCCB” in the four
verses, but not the same endings.
Analyzing the poem, the first
verse makes reference to the king of
In the third line says: “Strong mother” making reference to
England as a powerful empire, and then adds that the country should be proud
for all its soldiers who wrenched their rights and who were fighting there,
called in the poem “strong sons” (line
4).
The next verse shows a
patriotic face observed in the fifth line of the second verse where is written
“Who sprang from English blood!”.
As a whole, this fragment is saying
more or less, that all that they have learnt, (“Retaught the lesson thou hadst taught”)
resistance, intelligence and fight is thanks to their mother, their country,
summarizing,
Finally, in the last five
lines, Tennyson is talking about the results of the Independence War, England
has lost its colonies but it does not matter, in a certain way, because the
whole merit and work is for it, for England and has fight for it, as is seen in
“Thy work is thine-The
single note”(line 3).
At the end of this verse, the
third and fourth lines could be a metaphor showing that next times, “The growing world assume”, (line 3) will
be bad years for the English society because of the result of this War to
conquer new lands, and due to the Industrial Revolution.
In conclusion, Alfred Lord Tennyson with his poem “
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1-2-http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/London%2C_1802
3-http://www.eliteskills.com/c/6384
4-http://www.eliteskills.com/c/6384
5-6-www.sparknotes.com/poetry/Wordsworth/section6.rthml