William Wordsworth valued poetry as a vehicle taken to a great many destinations, from personal creativity to political expression. The characteristic of his poetry that he most valued however, was his capacity to use this medium to communicate the importance of history in the modern day, as well as the impact it would have on the future. His poem “The Prelude” is perhaps his most accomplished example of this unique partnership. Wordsworth believed that history shaped the character of individual men and women as well as the path that they would walk, both as individuals and as wide-ranging societies. His greatest fear was that oppression and subjugation of pre-Revolutionary France would once again return to his beloved country. His utmost apprehension lay in the suggestion that history would another time repeat itself, and his country would be victimized once again. In his poem, “The Prelude,” he discusses in detail the intellectual and emotional journey he endured as he deliberately, breathlessly, and guardedly watched history unfold before his very eyes (Hadley, 2001).
In response to the 7th book of “The Prelude,” Karen Hadley of the University of Louisville writes that, “Critics’ description of his residence in London has settled, among other things, on a version of the Miltonic Fall, in which the poet walks among the dangers he has warned against in the “Preface” to the Lyrical Ballads, in particular the increasing accumulation of men in cities, where the uniformity of occupation produces a “craving” for ‘extraordinary incident'” (Hadley, 2001). Here, one can see that the social environment helped to encourage the outrage and unrest that truly commenced the French Revolution, also impacting Wordsworth himself in strong and significant ways. He cared, not only about the change in French regime, but in each individual citizen, in the honor and treatment of prisoners, and in the ideals that were re-forming his nation. As such, Wordsworth considered himself a loyalist to his countrymen, devoted to the cause of revolutionizing France. When he saw that his fellow citizens were lacking in the wisdom and foresight to formulate an effective and strategic plan for the crucial time after the primary missions, fear of history repeating itself gripped him, and motivated him to create a work in “The Prelude” that would awaken his compatriots and offer wisdom for a solution (Allen, 1999).
Though he aligned himself with the patriots who fought in the Revolution, upon seeing the familiar ruin that appeared to be coming out of what was once a hopeful change, Wordsworth responded with distain. He believed it yet another step towards inhabitable future, a far cry from the Revolution that it had started out to be. In “The Prelude,” he loudly voiced his dissatisfaction that so few seemed to notice this recurrence. He was discouraged by the lack of importance that his peers possessed concerning history’s lessons for the future. He stated that lack of law, meaning and end would bring mankind to what he considered to be, “Oppression under which even highest minds / Must labour, whence the strongest are not free” (Wordsworth, 1979).
In chapter 7, he described the rebellious environment in detail; “I saw the Revolutionary Power / Toss like a ship at anchor, rocked by storms;… / I stared and listened, with a stranger’s ears, / To Hawkers and Haranguers, hubbub wild! / And hissing Factionists with ardent eyes, / In knots, or pairs, or single” (Wordsworth, 1979). It is imperative to note that Wordsworth carried out his writings in such detail, not only for the creativity and ability that it brought out in him, but also to give the reader an accurate and vivid description, as to his own interpretation of history. His record of the Revolution is a piece of history that he truly believed must be preserved in order to beseech with his fellow citizens to be aware of the impact of their actions. He sent out a call with “The Prelude” that the wretched and malevolent circumstances that fueled the very cause of the rebellion be well noted, so that it would not once again be repeated in his country’s future. Focused on none other than victory, it appeared that the revolutionary populace had forgotten about the daunting task of reforming France after the battles were won. William Wordsworth believed first and foremost in the value of history as a learning tool, and feared that the lack of consideration for the future was a direct result of forgetting the roads that brought them to their present day (Hadley, 2001).
He continued his description of the gruesome combat, noting every detail of the account, and telling the story in gory detail as he testified, “Not a look / Hope takes, or Doubt or Fear is forced to wear, / But seemed there present; and I scanned them all, / Watched every gesture uncontrollable, / Of anger, and vexation, and despite, / All side by side, and struggling face to face, With gaiety and dissolute idleness” (Wordsworth, 1979). This passage exhibits Wordsworth’s firsthand experience, as he was essentially observing and recording history in the making, the French Revolution at his doorstep. As a patriot and a friend to the people, he often expressed that his heart belonged to none other but the Revolution. He wanted to give of himself to the constructive reformation of France, and perhaps his greatest contribution to that end, was in his call to remember the lessons of past in this very poem (Wordsworth, 1979).
As time went on, Wordsworth grew increasingly weary of the negative presence that threatened his daily life. Readers can see this change in its entirety as he writes about the pinnacle of the French Revolution, in books 9 and 10 of “The Prelude.” In the beginning of these chapters, the reader sees and feels what Wordsworth is experiencing as though they are viewing France and the Revolution for the first time, with excitement and detail. However, as the prose continues, and the story unfolds, one can begin to see in his writing, a strained perspective with a more somber tone. His work resounds with intimate beauty, soulful hope, and eventually mutual disgust for his surrounding situation. He continued to write, pleading with his fellow French inhabitants to consider the consequences of their actions, and as such, to deeply contemplate the looming future in their forthcoming destiny should no new action be taken to bring this chain of events to a standstill (Hadley, 2001).
Through his writing in “The Prelude,” the reader can almost feel the disgust in Wordsworth’s encounters as the narrative unfolds. In the effort that the revolutionaries were making to remove the king from power, casualties in many forms and fashions littered the streets of France (Censer, 2003). Wordsworth found this to be an abhorrent resolution to an already repressive society. Particularly of note, was his revulsion upon discovering that King Louis and the royal household were being kept in the same type of oppressive situation that the rebels first stated they wanted to leave in the past of “old France.” The irony of the situation did not sit well with him as both a writer and a patriot. Upon seeing additional travesties of lost life and wasted bodies along the roadside, he spoke freely of his discontent; “I thought of those September massacres, / Divided from me by one little month, / Saw them and touched: the rest was conjured up / From tragic fictions or true history, / Remembrances and dim admonishments. / The horse is taught his manage, and no star / Of wildest course but treads back his own steps” (Wordsworth, 1979).
Shortly thereafter Robespierre, the leader of the Revolution, stood as interim king in a “government” ruled by fear and terror. Using the guillotine as a source of punishment and forced allegiance, Robespierre left no room for healing in the ravished nation (Censer, 2004). Upon observing that his worst nightmares had become reality, Wordsworth retreated into himself and his poetry, to an inner world of comfortable familiarity. Upon this transition he wrote in book 10 of “the Prelude,” “But as the ancient Prophets, borne aloft / In vision, yet constrained by natural laws / With them to take a troubled human heart, / Wanted not consolations, nor a creed / Of reconcilement, then when they denounced, / On towns and cities, wallowing in the abyss / Of their offences, / punishment to come; / Or saw, like other men, with bodily eyes, / Before them, in some desolated place, / The wrath consummate and the threat fulfilled,” (Wordsworth, 1979). Looking back at history once again for answers, he noted that France was not alone in the search for new freedoms, but even more alarming was the knowledge that in those times gone by revolutionaries often failed to prepare for the future as they had during the French Revolution. One thing throughout history was increasingly clear to Wordsworth, and as such caused a sense of escalating trepidation for him; without learning from the past, his country was destined to return to their previous state or, as was beginning to become apparent, they could enter into an even worse situation (Haley, 2001).
Still, Wordsworth did not give up on dreams of a revolutionized France, or his hopes for mankind’s realization of historical importance. Rather than allowing the failed resolution of his country to turn him into a pessimist, he used these experiences as yet another lesson to learn from for the future. He wrote, in book 13 of “the Prelude” that, “The Historian’s pen so much delights / To blazon–power and energy detached / From moral purpose–early tutored me / To look with feelings of fraternal love / Upon the unassuming things that hold / A silent station in this beauteous world” (Wordsworth, 1979). There was no doubt that he was saddened by the turn of events in his motherland. It was certain that he was discouraged and disappointed in the leadership of the Rebellion to not have considered the impact of history on the future, and to not have learned from the past. However, he looked upon his experience with hope, and used his poetry in “The Prelude” to bring hope to the future nations, regarding history as a valuable tool to shape the future.
Works Cited
Allen, Rodney. (1999). Threshold Of Terror: The Last Hours of
the Monarchy in the French Revolution. © Sutton Publishing.
Censer, Jack R. (2004). “The Night the Old Regime Ended: August
4, 1789, and the French Revolution.” Journal of Social
History.
Hadley, Karen. (2001). “Inventing the “little space of
intermediate time”: Wordsworthian Reflexive Historicism in
The Prelude, Books 7 and 8 – William Wordsworth – Critical
Essay” University of Louisville. © Gale Group.
Wordsworth, William, ed. Jonathan Wordsworth, M.H. Adams, and
Stephen Gill.(1979). The Prelude. © W. W. Norton.
