London 1802 by William Wordsworth 1770 to the 23rd of April 1850. Milton thou should be living at this hour England hath need of thee she is a fan of stagnant Waters altar sword and Pen Fireside the heroic wealth of Hall and Bower have forfeited their ancient English dower of 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 hats The Voice whose sound was like the sea pure as the naked Heavens Majestic free so did thou travel on life's common way in cheerful godliness and yet thy heart the lowliest duties on her self-delay okay this poem Is by William Wordsworth William Wordsworth normally writes about nature and the beauty of Nature and how um how nature is Sublime however this poem is different this one's um criticizing the Industrial Revolution um and it's criticizing London as the center of industrialization and the country yes has advanced massively technologically but the problem is that it has lost its values um and then also it this um poem it's praising John Milton and it's a desire to go back to John Milton's times let's see John Milton um was a poet from the 17th century um he was alive during the uh the English Civil War um and he's wishing that Milton would come back and restore the values um the social and moral values that that people had during uh the 17th century I think also notice it's 1802 so when Wordsworth is now into the 19th century um and he's harking back and saying the world was was a much much better place when Milton was alive so the the poem has uh two things it's praising uh John Milton and it's uh a social criticism against the loss of values and how yes we've Advanced technologically but uh spiritually and morally we are um declining okay so let's see Milton thou should be living at this hour so he's saying I really wish John Milton was here I wish he was alive today England hath need of the England needs you she is a fan of stagnant Waters so a Fen is a marsh are the fens of East Anglia a Fen is where it's really marshy and the water doesn't move and there is earth and water in that here we have um a metaphor saying that England is stagnant yeah it's uh it it's solely stagnant alter sword and Pen Fireside the heroic wealth of Hall and Bower so he's saying that the altar the church the altar of the church the sword the military the pen the writers the artists Fireside people at home sitting by their Fireside the heroic wealth of Hall and Bower so the old money the um people in charge in charge the status quo the people who live in great big halls and uh a bower is a comfortable place have forfeited their eight their their ancient English dower of inward happiness okay so they've forfeited um their um way their Tower of being happy inside they've lost it yeah it's lost by their attitude we are selfish men so man is becoming more and more selfish altruism is dying out uh and he's really upset about this oh raise us up return to us again so this line is spoken to John Milton and he's saying please come back and lift us up spiritually again and give us manners virtue Freedom Power so teach people manners how to be polite teach people to be virtuous to be good teach people about freedom because the Industrial Revolution is making people into slaves are give us power give us the spiritual power that we have before thy Soul was like a star and dwelt apart he's still talking to Milton your soul was like a star in the sky in the firmament and it was a a part it was different from other people thou Hast The Voice whose sound was like the sea okay so here he's saying firstly the the basic simile the sound of Milton's voice was similar to the sea but this is talking about the sea being Unstoppable this is like you like King can you telling the waves to go back and getting wet yeah um you're so the sound of your voice the things that you were saying were compelling there was something that couldn't that people uh couldn't argue against pure as the naked Heavens Majestic free so the things that you preach the things that you told were Purity like the heaven is pure you took you were telling people about to be um pure to be honest to be virtuous to be good your voice was Majestic like God and free you said what you thought you weren't forced to do anything so did thou travel on life's common way in cheerful godliness so you are went about your life living in a Godly way in a good way living in the way that God has told us that we should live yeah and you are lived your life like an ordinary person you didn't have um a desire to be the uh most important the best you want uh looking to compete and be the best you just lived a life in an ordinary way um in the way that God has told us and yet thy heart the lowliest duties on her self-delay and you did this despite the fact that you were happy to do the most menial the most uh unimportant uh obligations and I like the idea of him using herself talking about the heart this per personifies the heart yeah and the heart I guess this is a synecdochy talking about your character your person yeah so you went and On Life's common way you did the the things that everybody needs to do happy to do it in a good way despite the fact that you gave yourself the um lowliest obligations the things of least status so here he's praising Milton but at the same time he's criticizing this that effectively he's saying here that people they don't want to be just ordinary like everyone else they want to be better than everyone else and they break God's natural law in order to be better than themselves and they deserve only the most important duties and this is his complaint about what is happening to London what is technological process progress has resulted in a loss of soul and a loss of moral fiber in a loss of spirit so enough if you enjoyed the video give it a rating subscribe to my channel and I will see you soon bye for now London 1802 by William Wordsworth