Great Men Have Been Among Us, By William Wordsworth

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The shift from the 18th century to the 19th century brought on along many drastic shifts in values and beliefs. The 18th century, the age of enlightenment, valued reason and logic above all else, whereas the 19th century, the beginning of the romantic age, concerned themselves with emotions and passion (British Romanticism). William Wordsworth, a poet during this cultural shift, has always been considered a romantic poet; however, Wordsworth did not always have such limitations. Wordsworth wrote many revolutionary pieces, expressing the idea of inevitable change in our society and its need being governed through reason. Wordsworth creates such a theme in a few of his opinionated poems such as, “It is not to be thought of,” “Great Men Have Been Among Us,” “The French Revolution as it appeared to Enthusiasts.” Each poem reveals commentaries of political upheavals during that time displays a different and unusual side Wordsworth’s writing.
The dawn of the industrial revolution lead to a surge of romantic thinkers including some well knowns such as, William Blake, and Samuel Taylor Coleridge. Out of these romantic poets came the lake poets, a group including William Wordsworth who focus primarily …show more content…
Wordsworth adamantly declares the need for a strong figure to take charge of the revolution in France in his poem, “Great Men Have Been Among us.” In this poem, Wordsworth ideal image of the French Revolution slowly begins to turn as he watches chaos break loose around him. In Wordsworth’s poem, he talks about the great men of old who aided the progress of humanity through their, “hands that penned/ And tongues that uttered widom” (Lines 1-2). The personified ‘hands” and ‘tongues’ stands for all of the many great leaders of the past, and exaggerates their greatness by stating body parts rather than names to create a vague and vast importance in their hands and
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