The Stylistics of the Parts of Speech.

“London, 1802” by William Wordsworth: A Case Study

Diana Elena Crăciun,

Philology German – English
Second Year

London, 1802
BY WILLIAM WORDSWORTH

Milton! thou should'st be living at this hour:

England hath need of thee: she is a fen
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 hadst a voice whose sound was like the sea:
Pure as the naked heavens, majestic, free,
So didst thou travel on life's common way,
In cheerful godliness; and yet thy heart
The lowliest duties on herself did lay.

"London, 1802" is a sonnet written by the Romantic British poet William Wordsworth
and it was published for the first time in “Poems, in Two Volumes” (1807). Until the release
of this volume, Wordsworth was known only for “Lyrical Ballads”, written together with
Samuel Taylor Coleridge and published in several editions (1798, 1800, 1802, 1805). By
publishing “Poems, in Two Volumes”, Wordsworth hoped to further consolidate his artistic
reputation, however, the work was not so well received as “Lyrical Ballads”, a cornerstone of
the Romantic movement.
The noun is a key element in a language and a pillar of the expressive function proper
to poetry. The sonnet begins with a proper noun in the vocative case: “Milton!”. The poem is
written in the second person and addresses the late poet John Milton, who lived between 1608
and 1674 and is most famous for having written “Paradise Lost”. The proper name is very
closely related to the individual it refers to, therefore the use of this proper noun at the
beginning of the sonnet has a special evocatory force. The vocative case presupposes an
interlocutor, in this case the late poet Milton, who is called by Wordsworth to save England
from corruption. Mention must be made that the vocative is also semantically related to the
imperative.
The majority of the nouns used in the poem are concrete nouns: “fen”, “waters”,
“altar”, “sword”, “pen”, “fireside”, “hall”, “bower”, “dower”, “men”, “star”, “voice”, “sea”,
“way”, “heart”. Although typically used in descriptions and associated with a certain amount
of objectivity, concrete nouns can also stand for “inner states and feelings which become
visible, palpable, ceasing to be merely a character’s inner states” (Mihăilescu, 2006, 16).
Some of the concrete nouns in “London, 1802” are, in fact, used metaphorically, such as
“altar”, “sword”, “pen”, thus moving away from their concrete meaning and usage.
Abstract nouns are less numerous than concrete nouns (however, the ratio between the
two is balanced): “hour”, “need”, “wealth”, “happiness”, “manners”, “virtue”, “freedom”,
“power”, “soul”, “sound”, “heavens”, “life”, “godliness”, “duties”. In contrast to concrete
nouns, abstract nouns favour subjectivity and have an intellectualizing effect on the artistic
images: “they become a way of evoking the <<indefinite>> connected with the external
aspects and inner feelings” (Mihăilescu, 2006, 16).
Most of the nouns used are common, however, there are two proper nouns, of great
importance to the analysis and understanding of the sonnet: “Milton” and “England”. Many of
the concrete nouns seem to be put in connection in the octave with the proper noun
“England”; Wordsworth considers the England of his time to be a “fen”, a wetland of
stagnant, murky waters and accuses the fundamental institutions of English society, the
church (represented by the word “altar”), the military (represented by the word “sword”), the
arts, especially literature, (represented by the word “pen”) and family (represented by the
word “fireside”) of degraded morality. However, the abstract nouns “need” and “happiness”
are also put in relation with the proper noun “England”, Wordsworth considering “inward
happiness” as an English right or “dower”. In contrast, the proper noun “Milton” is put in
relation with a larger series of abstract nouns; Wordsworth cries out to the soul of the late poet
to return and give 19th century England “manners, virtue, freedom, power”. Wordsworth
praises the blind poet as a pure, moral soul, untouchable as the stars; he possessed both a
“cheerful godliness” and a sense of duty lacking in the British society of Wordsworth’s times.
The extensive use of the nominative case is also noticeable: “England hath need..”,
“she is a fen” “altar, sword, and pen, fireside [...] have forfeited”, and so on. The nominative
case is the case of autonomy and independence, activating the noun which can become a
personification.
The definite article is only seldom used (“the wealth”, “the sea”, “the heavens”) and it
increases the importance of the nouns accompanied by it, all of the above-mentioned nouns
bearing a positive meaning in the poem. Most of the nouns, however, are not accompanied by
an article or are used together with the indefinite article. The construction “a fen” may have a
pejorative meaning, expressing the poet’s contempt for the society of his time. The
construction “a Star” is a peculiar one, since the use of the indefinite article together with a
capitalized common noun is contradictory; it may suggest that “the concrete noun,
accompanied by the indefinite article, acquires figurative meaning, because it transforms an
accidental situation into a permanent one” (Mihăilescu, 2006, 25).
The adjectives do not have a great frequency in the sonnet, however, it cannot be said
that the poem lacks in adjectives either: “stagnant”, “heroic”, “ancient”, “inward”, “selfish”,
“naked”, “common”, “cheerful”, “lowliest”. Most of them are in the positive degree, which is
“unmarked and makes the expression more subtle nuancing its effective meaning and
emotional colouring” (Mihăilescu, 2006, 27). The comparative of superiority “the lowliest”
has an increased intensity, compared to the positive degree and, in general, such constructions
add colour to the poem, leading to a more pretentious style.
The entire sonnet is an evocation of Milton, therefore the second person singular
pronouns are widely used: “thou”, “thee”, “thy”. The first person singular pronoun is not
used, however, first person plural pronouns such as “we” and “us” appear in the constructions
“we are selfish men” and “raise us up”, “return to us again”, “give us”, suggesting that the
poet considers himself no better than the rest of the society and Milton only is worthy of
praise. The third person reflexive form “herself” cumulates reflexive and possessive values
and contributes to the effect of the personification “thy heart the lowliest duties on herself did
lay”.
The verb is the most dynamic linguistic means, as it expresses actions, and it reveals
other significant information about the poem. First of all, the ratio between transitive and
intransitive verbs is again balanced. In the category of intransitive verbs can be mentioned:
“should’st”, “be”, “living”, “is”, “are”, “was”, “dwelt”, “was”, “travel”, while in the category
of transitive verbs we have “hath”, “have forfeited”, “raise”, “return”, “give”, “hadst” and
“did lay”. The former reflect a split cause - effect relationship and create the general
impression of chaos, whereas the latter reflect a linear cause – effect relationship and create
the impression of harmony. The key may lie with the transitive verbs “raise”, “return” and
“give”, which can suggest a generally unbalanced and corrupt world that would regain its
harmony through the moral values a gigantic figure such as Milton could instill into it.
Present tense simple is used for the parts of the poem referring to the state of the
British society during Wordsworth’s life and past tense simple for the parts praising the late
poet Milton. Present perfect simple appears only in one case, “have forfeited”, and it shows an
action that has been already performed, but it is related to the moment of speaking: the decline
of morals had begun at an earlier time with the effect that they were degraded in
Wordsworth’s times.
In conclusion, Wordsworth’s “London, 1802” expresses typical Romantic feelings
such as regret about the moral decline of the 19 th century society and praise of the past, here
embodied by the genius poet John Milton. The stylistic analysis of the parts of speech
revealed in-depth information about the sonnet, shedding new light on this remarkable piece
of Romantic poetry.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

1. Mihăilescu, C., “Introduction to Stylistics”, Sibiu, 2006

2. Wordsworth, W., “Poems in Two Volumes”, London, 1807 [Online,
th
http://books.google.ro/books?id=AegNAAAAQAAJ, Accessed 27 December 2014]