Page

Title

Predominant Mood

Key Figures

Notes

1

281

Composed by the Sea-Side, near Calais

fear, hope, patriotic

lovers; mother/child, heraldry, chivalry, star

sunset, stooping; glorious crest; dusky spot beneath thee it is England; exile from country; fear for country

2

280

Calais, August, 1802

indignation

reed in wind; slavery; transience

bowing, servility, prostrate

3

282

To a Friend, Composed near Calais

hope

festivals, birds

then vs. now; recall 1790 tour with Jones; Revolution over, that hope gone but not all hope

4

267

'I grieved for Buonaparte'

anti-Napoleon, pro George III

blood-food, hopes, battle, motherly, stalk

vain unthinking grief; his first hopes; soldiers are not leaders; closes with idyllic portrayal of Geo III with family

5

283

Calais, August 15th, 1802

hope?

festivals

festivals for Napoleon connects to sonnets 1, 3 and 4; ends with hope

6

268

On the Extinction of the Venetian Republic

nostalgia

virginity, marriage, violation, age

cancels hope of previous; safeguard against East; language of rape and seduction; nostalgia; protective of past

7

282

To Toussaint L'Ouverture

power in motion?

milkmaid or dungeon; powers

powers left behind; Nature itself?; his power is resistance set in motion

8

283

September 1st, 1802

exile

outcasts; race

negress—woman rich yet gaudy, silent, dejected, meek, tame; an exile, outcast, like poet in 1?

9

284

Composed in the Valley, near Dover

hope; patriotic, celebrates England

cock crow; Nature, church bells; children playing

common sights rendered uncommon by context; free while Europe in chains; thought for another time (denial)

10

284

September, 1802

love of England vs. fear of France

isolation; safety but also nearness; flood—nature free

safe in England but France close; fear of 1 and 9 return; God in poem occupies place of Nature

11

330

Thought of a Briton on the Subjugation of Switzerland

indignation

water—free, power, force, Nature, maid

Two voices—sea and mountains, both waters flowing free; tyrant fought against w/ holy glee; high-souled Maid

12

285

Written in London, September, 1802

despair

water—freedom; no grandeur; must be free like a brook in the sun

England a mess—we are not an honorable nation; idolatry, rapine, avarice

13

286

London, 1802

anger/despair

fen, stagnant water, chivalry, star, voice like the sea

critical of England; fen vs. brook (of 12), chivalry forgotten vs. festivals; star recalls 1, voice like sea recalls 11

14

276

'Great Men have been among us'

heritage

shone, hands

England’s glorious past of republicanism; vs. France; equally a want of books and men

15

276

'It is not to be thought of that the Flood'

heritage

freedom—open sea, bogs; armory, chivalry, past

It is not to be thought—denial; freights of worth = imperial; halls, armory = heritage, past; Nature imagery of water combines with historical emphasis on heritage

16

277

'When 1 have borne in memory what has tamed'

fear of present

tamed; swords for ledgers; unfilial; lover or child

memory picks up heritage from 15; fear of ledgers recalls 12 and 13; lover or child recalls 1

17

293

October, 1803 ('One might believe')

France vs. Britain

light = liberty; phrenzy, drunken mirth, myriads, impatient

positive about French landscape; negative about French; according to Michael / Pedlar / Prelude model of education by Nature how is this possible? dearth of knowledge; put out last light of liberty

18

277

'There is a bondage which is worse to bear'

Europe enslaved

bondage; slavery; world’s decline

bondage recalls 7 and 8; Nature participates in Man’s deline; soul bondage worse than physical

19

294

October, 1803 ('These times')

tyranny or capital

rich men; taint; breathed upon, hope;

what enslaves, Napoleon or wealth? return to criticism of wealth (see 12, 13); they in fear while rest hope; virtue and faculties within are vital (like 7)

20

275

'England! the time is come when thou shouldst wean'

capital

weaning; mother/child; seed time/harvest; slavery, freight, offenses

Britain’s imperialism to blame; mother and child (like 1) but who is mother and who child?; slavery great sin as is imperialism—emasculating food; sin = freight = slaves, etc.; weak endorsement of Britain, vacillates, world’s best hope

21

294

October, 1803 ('When, looking on')

despair

face, Napoleon, veneration, Providence, emptiness, heart, sorrow of times

great events = hollow; total despair; nothing to venerate; doubts even Providence; measure back steps (retreat) or from abyss of sublime

22

289

To the Men of Kent

patriotic

standard almost clichéd; Shakespearean ring (John of Gaunt’s scepter’d isles or Henry V on St. Crispin’s day?)

23

290

Anticipation. October, 1803

patriotism but humility

breath of heaven; snow

imagined triumph over invasion—but humility too; it must be an extraordinary triumph if we can think of it with joy despite sorrows

24

331

November, 1806

patriotic but fearful

Foe (i.e. Satan); dastard (whomever is not moved to fight), venal Band

name-calling?; After Jena, England alone; France = Foe = Satan; three part structure: 1-4 situation; 5-8 patriotic call to fight; 9-14 worries about resolution; Britain along, like star in 1, but hope? fear of 1 returns, to be amongst those who do not love this nation, though here it is not the French but the British