"IS THERE A POWER THAT CAN SUSTAIN AND CHEER"
Composed 1809.—Published 1815
Is there a power that can sustain and cheer
The captive chieftain, by a tyrant's doom,
Forced to descend into his destined tomb—[1]
A dungeon dark! where he must waste the year,
And lie cut off from all his heart holds dear; 5
What time his injured country is a stage
Whereon deliberate Valour and the rage
Of righteous Vengeance side by side appear,
Filling from morn to night the heroic scene
With deeds of hope and everlasting praise:— 10
Say can he think of this with mind serene
And silent fetters? Yes, if visions bright
Shine on his soul, reflected from the days
When he himself was tried in open light.
This may refer to Palafox, alluded to in the sonnet ([p. 222]) beginning, "And is it among rude untutored Dales," and in the one next in order in the series ([p. 223]); although, from the latter sonnet, it would seem that Wordsworth did not know that Palafox was, in 1809, a prisoner at Vincennes.
In his edition of the poems published in 1837, Professor Henry Reed of Philadelphia said, "He must be dull of heart who, in perusing this series of Poems 'dedicated to Liberty,' does not feel his affection for his own country—wherever it may be—and his love of freedom, under whatever form of government his lot may have been cast—at once invigorated and chastened into a purer and more thoughtful emotion."—Ed.
VARIANTS:
[1] 1837.
Forced to descend alive into his tomb, 1815.
The text of 1815 was re-adopted in 1838; the text of 1840 returned to that of 1837.