English poem
O'Erweening Statesmen Have Full Long Relied
Composed 1810.--Published 1815
In all the editions this poem has for its title the date 1810.--ED.
O'erweening Statesmen have full long relied On fleets and armies, and external wealth: But from within proceeds a Nation's health; Which shall not fail, though poor men cleave with pride To the paternal floor; or turn aside, In the thronged city, from the walks of gain, As being all unworthy to detain A Soul by contemplation sanctified. There are who cannot languish in this strife, Spaniards of every rank, by whom the good Of such high course was felt and understood; Who to their Country's cause have bound a life Erewhile, by solemn consecration, given To labour, and to prayer, to nature, and to heaven.[A]
More by William Wordsworth
- O Mountain Stream! The Shepherd And His Cot
- O Nightingale! Thou Surely Art
- O Thou Who Movest Onward With A Mind
- O'Er The Wide Earth, On Mountain And On Plain
- On Nature'S Invitation Do I Come
- Once I Could Hail (Howe'Er Serene The Sky)
- "Pause, Courteous Spirit!--Balbi Supplicates"[A]
- Pelion And Ossa Flourish Side By Side