Volume 2 — Anticipation. October, 1803

Composed October 1803.—Published 1807^A

Included among the "Sonnets dedicated to Liberty"; re-named in 1845, "Poems dedicated to National Independence and Liberty."—Ed.

The Poem

text variant footnote line number

Shout, for a mighty Victory is won! On British ground the Invaders are laid low; The breath of Heaven has drifted them like snow, And left them lying in the silent sun, Never to rise again!—the work is done. Come forth, ye old men, now in peaceful show And greet your sons! drums beat and trumpets blow! Make merry, wives! ye little children, stun Your grandame's ears with pleasure of your noise! Clap, infants, clap your hands! Divine must be That triumph, when the very worst, the pain, And even the prospect of our brethren slain, Hath something in it which the heart enjoys:— In glory will they sleep and endless sanctity. Note Contents 1803 Main Contents 1 2 3 5 10

Variant 1:

1807

... with transports of your own. C

... with transport of your noise! 1838

The edition of 1840 returns to the text of 1807.

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Variant 2:

1807

The loss and e'en the prospect of the slain, MS. 1803. And in The Poetical Register, 1803.

And prospect of our Brethren to be slain, MS. 1803.

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Variant 3:

1807

True glory, everlasting sanctity. MS. 1803. And in The Poetical Register, 1803.

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Footnote A:

i. e. in the edition of 1807, but this sonnet was previously printed in 1803 in The Poetical Register, vol. iii. p. 340, in the Anti-Gallican (1804), and in the Poetical Repository (1805).—Ed.

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Note:

This sonnet, as the title indicates, does not refer to an actual victory; because, since the Norman conquest, no "Invaders" have ever set foot "on British ground." It was written—like the two preceding sonnets, and the one that follows it—"in anticipation" of Napoleon's project for the invasion of England being actually carried out; a project never realised. The assembling of the immense French army destined for this purpose—one of the finest brought together since the days of the Roman legions—between the mouths of the Seine and the Texel, roused the spirit of English patriotism as it had never been roused before. Three hundred thousand volunteers were enlisted in Great Britain by the 10th of August 1803;

"all the male population of the kingdom from seventeen years of age to fifty-five were divided into classes to be successively armed and exercised" (Dyer).

The story of the failure of Napoleon's scheme is too well known to be repeated in this note. Wordsworth seems to have written his sonnet in anticipation of what he believed would have been the inevitable issue of events, had the French army actually landed on British soil.—Ed.

Contents 1803 Main Contents