London, 1802
Milton! thou should'st be living at this hour:England hath need of thee: she is a fenOf stagnant waters: altar, sword, and pen,Fireside, the heroic wealth of hall and bower,Have forfeited their ancient English dowerOf 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 heartThe lowliest duties on herself did lay.
Words in this poem
- fireside n.
- A place near the fire or hearth; home; domestic life or retirement.
- wealth n.
- Weal; welfare; prosperity; good. [OE. welthe, from wele; cf. D. weelde luxury. See Weal prosperity.]
- didst
- , the 2d pers. sing. imp. of Do.
- godliness n.
- Careful observance of, or conformity to, the laws of God; the state or quality of being godly; piety. [From Godly.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
London, 1802 is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Poetical Works of William Wordsworth — Volume 2 (of 8), Project Gutenberg ebook #12145; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: William Wordsworth, London, 1802, in The Brothers, and Other Poems (1798–1807), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #12145, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/wordsworth-vol2/london-1802.html, id L26191.
Form and metre
London, 1802 is 14 lines in a single stanza. This poem did not settle on a metre of its own; the book it comes from is in iambic pentameter.
See other poems in iambic pentameter.
Measured by Laurel's pipeline, not copied from a handbook: how stress and metre are counted, how rhyme is lettered, how a drifted rhyme is found. Where the dictionary cannot confirm a rhyme the letter is withheld, not guessed.
Rhyme words, stanza by stanza
The word that ends each line, lettered by the rhyme it makes; a dash is a line whose rhyme the dictionary could not confirm.
- 1 ABBA-BBACDDECE hourA · fenB · penB · bowerA · dower · menB · againB · powerA · apartC · seaD · freeD · wayE · heartC · layE
Scansion, line by line
Each line with its syllable count and the stresses the words themselves fix: / stressed, ˘ unstressed, · a syllable the word leaves free and the metre decides. Read against iambic pentameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Milton! thou should'st be living at this hour: | 11 | /˘···/˘··/˘ |
| England hath need of thee: she is a fen | 10 | /˘········ |
| Of stagnant waters: altar, sword, and pen, | 10 | ·/˘/˘/˘··· |
| Fireside, the heroic wealth of hall and bower, | 12 | /˘··˘/˘····/ |
| Have forfeited their ancient English dower | 10 | ·/˘˘·/˘/˘· |
| Of inward happiness. We are selfish men; | 10 | ·/˘/˘··/˘· |
| Oh! raise us up, return to us again; | 10 | ····˘/··˘/ |
| And give us manners, virtue, freedom, power. | 11 | ···/˘/˘/˘/˘ |
| Thy soul was like a Star, and dwelt apart: | 10 | ········˘/ |
| Thou hadst a voice whose sound was like the sea: | 10 | ·········· |
| Pure as the naked heavens, majestic, free, | 11 | ···/˘/˘˘/˘· |
| So didst thou travel on life's common way, | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| In cheerful godliness; and yet thy heart | 10 | ·/˘/˘˘···· |
| The lowliest duties on herself did lay. | 10 | ···/˘·˘/·· |
The reader shows the same poem with its rhymes coloured and a stress row above each line, the notes beside their stanzas, and any word's definition on a tap; the analysis page takes the whole book apart. How every part of this site was made.