18 pages • 36 minutes read
William WordsworthLondon, 1802
Fiction | Poem | Adult | Published in 1807A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Symbols & Motifs
John Milton
John Milton is the sonnet’s most important and powerful symbol. The entire sonnet is built around an address to Milton, who remains the central figure in the poem from the first line to the last. Milton symbolizes both the literary and political virtues that the speaker feels the “selfish men” (Line 6) of his own generation lack. While his contemporaries carelessly “forfei[t] their ancient English dower / Of inward happiness” (Lines 5-6, italics mine), Milton embodies “cheerful godliness” (Line 13, italics mine), with contemporary Englishmen’s lack of true “happiness” due to their self-centered lives contrasting starkly with Milton’s “cheerful[ness]” and active engagement with the world. The speaker praises Milton as having a “Soul like a star” (Line 9) and a way of living that was “Pure as the naked heavens, majestic, free” (Line 11), enabling Milton to embody all of the purity, vitality, liberty, and superior virtues that England needs to regain.
Nature
Nature is an important motif in the poem, helping to illustrate the poem’s key themes. The speaker uses natural imagery to create contrasts between the England of his own day and the way of living and being that Milton represents. The speaker describes England in 1802 as a “fen” (Line 2), meaning a bog or marsh, that is full of “stagnant waters” (Line 3), which emphasizes the ways in which England has decayed and lost its former social, cultural, and political vitality. Milton, on the other hand, is said to have a “Soul [that] was like a Star” (Line 9), which “dwelt apart” (Line 9) from the common vices of men, just as the stars exist at a remove from earth. The speaker also describes Milton’s “voice” as having a “sound [that] was like the sea” (Line 10). In describing Milton using such beautiful and expansive imagery—invoking both the sea and the night sky—the speaker emphasizes the expansiveness of Milton’s values and activities, stressing both the vigor of his life and thought and the contrast of both to the claustrophobic, fetid world of the “fen” (Line 2) in which Englishmen now figuratively dwell.
Stagnation
Stagnation, in all its various social and cultural aspects, is the other important motif in “London, 1802.” The speaker says that the degeneration of England is due to the “selfish men” (Line 6) who have “forfeited their ancient English dower / Of inward happiness” (Lines 5-6), suggesting that there is a general lack of virtue and vitality amongst the speaker’s contemporaries. The imagery of “stagnant waters” (Line 3) embodies the way in which English society has grown sluggish and corrupted, with “altar, sword, and pen” (Line 3) now all suffering from neglect. Since all Englishmen in general—from the highest to the lowest, whether they dwell in a “hall” or “bower” (Line 4)—are guilty of this selfishness and neglect, the social and political malaise is dangerously widespread. In calling upon Milton to “raise us up, return to us again; / And give us manners, virtue, freedom, power” (Lines 7-8), the speaker suggests that urgent action is needed in order to reverse the stagnation that has taken place in the ensuing centuries since Milton’s day.
Related Titles
By William Wordsworth
