This and the following ten sonnets were included among the "Sonnets
dedicated to Liberty"; re-named in 1845, "Poems dedicated to National
Independence and Liberty."—Ed.
The Poem
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Once did She hold the gorgeous east in fee;
And was the safeguard of the west: the worth
Of Venice did not fall below her birth,
Venice, the eldest Child of Liberty.
She was a maiden City, bright and free;
No guile seduced, no force could violate;
And, when she took unto herself a Mate,
She must espouse the everlasting Sea.
And what if she had seen those glories fade,
Those titles vanish, and that strength decay;
Yet shall some tribute of regret be paid
When her long life hath reached its final day:
Men are we, and must grieve when even the Shade
Of that which once was great, is passed away.
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Compare Childe Harold's Pilgrimage (canto iv. II):
'The spouseless Adriatic mourns her lord.'
Ed.
Note:
"Once did She hold the gorgeous east in fee."
The special glory of Venice dates from the conquest of Constantinople by
the Latins in 1202. The fourth Crusade—in which the French and
Venetians alone took part—started from Venice, in October 1202, under
the command of the Doge, Henry Dandolo. Its aim, however, was not the
recovery of Palestine, but the conquest of Constantinople. At the close
of the crusade, Venice received the Morea, part of Thessaly, the
Cyclades, many of the Byzantine cities, and the coasts of the
Hellespont, with three-eighths of the city of Constantinople itself, the
Doge taking the curious title of Duke of three-eighths of the Roman
Empire.
"And was the safeguard of the west."
This may refer to the prominent part which Venice took in the Crusades,
or to the development of her naval power, which made her mistress of the
Mediterranean for many years, and an effective bulwark against invasions
from the East.
"The eldest Child of Liberty."
The origin of the Venetian State was the flight of many of
the inhabitants of the mainland—on the invasion of Italy by
Attila—to the chain of islands that lie at the head of the
Adriatic.
"In the midst of the waters, free, indigent, laborious, and
inaccessible, they gradually coalesced into a republic: the first
foundations of Venice were laid in the island of Rialto.... On the
verge of the two empires the Venetians exult in the belief of
primitive and perpetual independence."
Gibbon's Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, chap. lx.
"And, when she took unto herself a Mate,
She must espouse the everlasting Sea."
In 1177, Pope Alexander III. appealed to the Venetian Republic for
protection against the German Emperor. The Venetians were successful in
a naval battle at Saboro, against Otho, the son of Frederick Barbarossa.
In return, the Pope presented the Doge Liani with a ring, with which he
told him to wed the Adriatic, that posterity might know that the sea was
subject to Venice, "as a bride is to her husband."
In September 1796, nearly six years before this sonnet was written, the
fate of the old Venetian Republic was sealed by the treaty of Campo
Formio. The French army under Napoleon had subdued Italy, and, having
crossed the Alps, threatened Vienna. To avert impending disaster, the
Emperor Francis arranged a treaty which extinguished the Venetian
Republic. He divided its territory between himself and Napoleon, Austria
retaining Istria, Dalmatia, and the left bank of the Adige in the
Venetian State, with the "maiden city" itself; France receiving the rest
of the territory and the Ionian Islands. Since the date of that treaty
the city has twice been annexed to Italy.—Ed.
Contents 1802
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The King of Sweden
Composed August, 1802.—Published 1807
The Poem
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The Voice of song from distant lands shall call
To that great King; shall hail the crownèd Youth
Who, taking counsel of unbending Truth,
By one example hath set forth to all
How they with dignity may stand; or fall,
If fall they must. Now, whither doth it tend?
And what to him and his shall be the end?
That thought is one which neither can appal
Nor cheer him; for the illustrious Swede hath done
The thing which ought to be; is raised above [2]
All consequences: work he hath begun
Of fortitude, and piety, and love,
Which all his glorious ancestors approve:
The heroes bless him, him their rightful son.
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... bold ...
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... He stands above
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See the sonnet beginning "Call not the royal Swede
unfortunate," vol. iv. p. 224.—Ed.
Note:
The following is Wordsworth's note to this sonnet, added in 1837:
"In this and a succeeding Sonnet on the same subject, let me be
understood as a Poet availing himself of the situation which the King
of Sweden occupied, and of the principles
Avowed in His Manifestos; as
laying hold of these advantages for the purpose of embodying moral
truths. This
remark might, perhaps, as well have been suppressed; for
to those who may be in sympathy with the course of these Poems, it
will be superfluous; and will, I fear, be thrown away upon that other
class, whose besotted admiration of the intoxicated despot hereafter
placed
A in contrast with him, is the most melancholy evidence of
degradation in British feeling and intellect which the times have
furnished."
The king referred to is Gustavus IV., who was born in 1778, proclaimed
king in 1792, and died in 1837. His first public act after his accession
was to join in the coalition against Napoleon, and dislike of Napoleon
was the main-spring of his policy. It is to this that Wordsworth refers
in the sonnet:
'... the illustrious Swede hath done
The thing which ought to be ...'
It made him unpopular, however, and gave rise to a conspiracy against
him, and to his consequent abdication in 1809. He "died forgotten and in
poverty."—Ed.
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To Toussaint L'Ouverture
Composed August, 1802.—Published 1807A
The Poem
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Toussaint, the most unhappy man of men!
Whether the whistling Rustic tend his plough
Within thy hearing, or thy head be now
Pillowed in some deep dungeon's earless den;—
O miserable Chieftain! where and when
Wilt thou find patience? Yet die not; do thou
Wear rather in thy bonds a cheerful brow:
Though fallen thyself, never to rise again,
Live, and take comfort. Thou hast left behind
Powers that will work for thee; air, earth, and skies;
There's not a breathing of the common wind
That will forget thee; thou hast great allies;
Thy friends are exultations, agonies,
And love, and man's unconquerable mind.
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Whether the rural milk-maid by her cow
Sing in thy hearing, or thou liest now
Alone in some deep dungeon's earless den,
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Whether the all-cheering sun be free to shed
His beams around thee, or thou rest thy head
Pillowed in some dark dungeon's noisome den,
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Whether the whistling Rustic tend his plough
Within thy hearing, or Thou liest now
Buried in some deep dungeon's earless den;—
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... Yet die not; be thou
Life to thyself in death; with chearful brow
Live, loving death, nor let one thought in ten
Be painful to thee ...
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But previously printed in The Morning Post of February 2,
1803, under the signature W. L. D.—Ed.
Compare Massinger, The Bondman, act I. scene iii. l. 8:
'Her man of men, Timoleon.'
Ed.
Compare Rowe's Tamerlane, iii. 2:
'But to subdue the unconquerable mind.'
Also Gray's poem The Progress of Poesy, ii. 2, l. 10:
'Th' unconquerable Mind, and Freedom's holy flame.'
Ed.
Note:
François Dominique Toussaint (who was surnamed L'Ouverture), the child
of African slaves, was born at St. Domingo in 1743. He was a Royalist in
political sympathy till 1794, when the decree of the French convention,
giving liberty to the slaves, brought him over to the side of the
Republic. He was made a general of division by Laveux, and succeeded in
taking the whole of the north of the island from the English. In 1796 he
was made chief of the French army of St. Domingo, and first the British
commander, and next the Spanish, surrendered everything to him. He
became governor of the island, which prospered under his rule. Napoleon,
however, in 1801, issued an edict re-establishing slavery in St.
Domingo. Toussaint professed obedience, but showed that he meant to
resist the edict. A fleet of fifty-four vessels was sent from France to
enforce it. Toussaint was proclaimed an outlaw. He surrendered, and was
received with military honours, but was treacherously arrested and sent
to Paris in June 1802, where he died, in April 1803, after ten months'
hardship in prison. He had been two months in prison when Wordsworth
addressed this sonnet to him.—Ed.
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Composed in the Valley near Dover, on the Day of Landing
Composed August 30, 1802.—Published 1807
The Poem
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Here, on our native soil, we breathe once more.
The cock that crows, the smoke that curls, that sound
Of bells;—those boys who in yon meadow-ground
In white-sleeved shirts are playing; and the roar
Of the waves breaking on the chalky shore;—
All, all are English. Oft have I looked round
With joy in Kent's green vales; but never found
Myself so satisfied in heart before.
Europe is yet in bonds; but let that pass,
Thought for another moment. Thou art free,
My Country! and 'tis joy enough and pride
For one hour's perfect bliss, to tread the grass
Of England once again, and hear and see,
With such a dear Companion at my side.
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Dear fellow Traveller! here we are once more.
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In white sleev'd shirts are playing by the score,
And even this little River's gentle roar,
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At the beginning of Dorothy Wordsworth's Journal of a Tour
on the Continent in 1820, she writes (July 10, 1820):
"When within a mile of Dover saw crowds of people at a cricket match,
the numerous combatants dressed in 'white-sleeved shirts;' and it was
in the very same field, where, when we 'trod the grass of England once
again,' twenty years ago, we had seen an assemblage of youths, engaged
in the same sport, so very like the present that all might have been
the same. (See my brother's sonnet.)"
Ed.
Note:
Dorothy Wordsworth writes in her Journal,
"On Sunday, the 29th of August, we left Calais, at twelve o'clock in
the morning, and landed at Dover at one on Monday the 30th. It was
very pleasant to me, when we were in the harbour at Dover, to breathe
the fresh air, and to look up and see the stars among the ropes of the
vessel. The next day was very hot, we bathed, and sat upon the Dover
Cliffs, and looked upon France with many a melancholy and tender
thought. We could see the shores almost as plain as if it were but an
English lake. We mounted the coach, and arrived in London at six, the
30th August."
Ed.
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September 1, 1802
Composed September 1, 1802.—Published 1807A
Among the capricious acts of Tyranny that disgraced these times, was the
chasing of all Negroes from France by decree of the Government: we had a
Fellow-passenger who was one of the expelled.—W. W. 1827.
The Poem
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We had a female Passenger who came
From Calais with us, spotless in array,
A white-robed Negro, like a lady gay,
Yet downcast as a woman fearing blame;
Meek, destitute, as seemed, of hope or aim
She sate, from notice turning not away,
But on all proffered intercourse did lay
A weight of languid speech, or to the same
No sign of answer made by word or face:
Yet still her eyes retained their tropic fire,
That, burning independent of the mind,
Joined with the lustre of her rich attire
To mock the Outcast—O ye Heavens, be kind!
And feel, thou Earth, for this afflicted Race!
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We had a fellow-passenger that came
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... who ...
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Driven from the soil of France, a Female came
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The edition of 1838 returns to the text of 1807, but the edition of 1840
reverts to that of 1827.
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... gaudy ...
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... brilliant ...
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A negro woman, ...
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Dejected, downcast, meek, and more than tame:
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Dejected, meek, yea pitiably tame,
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