These poems, “London, 1802” written by William Wordsworth, and in “Douglass” written by Paul Laurence Dunbar, call to a person to help their country in their time of suffering. In “London, 1802”, the narrator calls John Milton to help England in their time of sorrow and for him to return their happiness. “Give us manners, virtue, freedom, power.” (line 8) Whilst in “Douglass”, as the title of the poem implies, calls to Frederick Douglass, who was a famous intellect and civil rights promoter. I will give some key information to help with the understanding of these two poems written by great authors.
The author of “London, 1802”, William Wordsworth was a romantic poet, he with Samuel Taylor Coleridge, helped to birth the Romantic Age in English literature. We can see his romantic sense in the poem by comparing Milton’s soul to a star in line 9 in the poem and in line 10, where he says, “Thou hadst a voice whose sound was like the sea”. At this time, in the 1800’s, London was the largest city in Europe, which had wealth and prosperity. But with
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He describes London as a fen, which is a swamp, but I believe he does not see it as a small pond, but rather a green and revolting swamp. The list in these lines represented the things that Wordsworth believed was great about London, until the people of London turned selfish and unhappy, which was, the altar representing religion, the sword representing the military, and the pen represents literature. Now I will give you some information about Paul Laurence Dunbar. Paul Laurence Dunbar was an excellent African American poet who published “Douglass” in 1895. During this time, the American Civil War was ending, but the states were still in horrifying conditions regarding race. Frederick Douglass was born into slavery and was