Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

ECCLESIASTICAL SONNETS: PART 2: 33. THE REVIVAL OF POPERY by WILLIAM WORDSWORTH

Poet Analysis

First Line: THE SAINTLY YOUTH HAS CEASED TO RULE, DISCROWNED
Last Line: RUNS THROUGH BLIND CHANNELS OF AN UNKNOWN TONGUE.
Subject(s): CATHOLICS; ROMAN CATHOLICS; CATHOLICISM;
THE saintly Youth has ceased to rule, discrowned
By unrelenting Death. O People keen
For change, to whom the new looks always green!
Rejoicing did they cast upon the ground
Their Gods of wood and stone; and, at the sound
Of counter-proclamation, now are seen,
(Proud triumph is it for a sullen Queen!)
Lifting them up, the worship to confound
Of the Most High. Again do they invoke
The Creature, to the Creature glory give;
Again with frankincense the altars smoke
Like those the Heathen served; and mass is sung;
And prayer, man's rational prerogative,
Runs through blind channels of an unknown tongue.




Home: PoetryExplorer.net