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Classic and Contemporary Poetry
ECCLESIASTICAL SONNETS: PART 2: 28. REFLECTIONS, by WILLIAM WORDSWORTH Poet Analysis Poet's Biography
First Line: Grant that by this unsparing hurricane
Last Line: Of reckless mastery, hitherto unknown.
First Line: Grant that by this unsparing hurricane
Last Line: Of reckless mastery, hitherto unknown.
GRANT, that by this unsparing hurricane
Green leaves with yellow mixed are torn away,
And goodly fruitage with the mother spray;
'Twere madness -- wished we, therefore, to detain,
With hands stretched forth in mollified disdain,
The "trumpery" that ascends in bare display --
Bulls, pardons, relics, cowls black, white, and grey --
Upwhirled, and flying o'er the ethereal plain
Fast bound for Limbo Lake. And yet not choice
But habit rules the unreflecting herd,
And airy bonds are hardest to disown;
Hence, with the spiritual sovereignty transferred
Unto itself, the Crown assumes a voice
Of reckless mastery, hitherto unknown.
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Other Poems of Interest...
A JEWISH FAMILY; IN A SMALL VALLEY OPPOSITE ST. GOAR by WILLIAM WORDSWORTH
ADMONITION [TO A TRAVELLER] by WILLIAM WORDSWORTH
AN APRIL MORNING by WILLIAM WORDSWORTH
ANECDOTE FOR FATHERS by WILLIAM WORDSWORTH
ANIMAL TRANQUILITY AND DECAY; A SKETCH by WILLIAM WORDSWORTH
AT FLORENCE by WILLIAM WORDSWORTH
AT THE GRAVE OF BURNS; SEVEN YEARS AFTER HIS DEATH by WILLIAM WORDSWORTH
BUONAPARTE by WILLIAM WORDSWORTH
COMPOSED AT NEIDPATH CASTLE, 1803 by WILLIAM WORDSWORTH
COMPOSED BY THE SEA-SIDE NEAR CALAIS [AUGUST 1802] by WILLIAM WORDSWORTH