William Wordsworth: Occasioned by the Battle of Waterloo

Byron was not the only poet to visit the battlefield. William Wordsworth also made a visit, and composed to three following poems, which convey sharply different feelings about the battle.

Occasioned by the Battle of Waterloo – February 1816

The Bard, whose soul is meek as dawning day,
Yet trained to judgements righteously severe,
Fervid, yet conversant with holy fear,
As recognising one Almighty sway:
He, whose experienced eye can pierce the array
Of past events; to whom, in vision clear,
The aspiring heads of future things appear,
Like mountain-tops whose mists have rolled away
Assoiled from all encumbrance of our time,
He only, if such breathe, in strains devout
Shall comprehend this victory sublime;
Shall worthily rehearse the hideous rout,
The triumph hail, which from their peaceful clime
Angels might welcome with a choral shout!

After Visiting the Field of Waterloo

A winged Goddess, clothed in vesture wrought
Of rainbow colours; One whose port was bold,
Whose overburthened hand could scarcely hold
The glittering crowns and garlands that it brought,
Hovered in air above the far-famed Spot.
She vanished – leaving prospect blank and cold
Of wind-swept corn that wide around us rolled
In dreary billows, wood, and meagre cot,
And monuments that soon must disappear:
Yet a dread local recompense we found;
While glory seemed betrayal, while patriot zeal
Sank in our hearts, we felt as Men should feel
With such vast hoards of hidden carnage near,
And horror breathing from the silent ground.

Occasioned by the Battle of Waterloo – February 1816

Intrepid sons of Albion! not by you
Is life despised; ah no, the spacious earth
Ne’er saw a race who held, by right of birth,
So many objects to which love is due:
Ye slight no life – to God and Nature true;
But death, becoming death, is dearer far,
When duty bids you bleed in open war:
Hence hath your prowess quelled that impious crew.
Heroes! – for instant sacrifice prepared;
But filled with ardour and on triumph bent
Mid sorest shocks of mortal accident –
To you who fell, and you who slaughter spared
To guard the fallen, and consummate the event,
Your Country rears this sacred Monument.