History & Politics

Feelings of the Tyrolese

by William Wordsworth 1770–1850

From Poetical Works, ed. Knight (1896), vol. IV

History & Politics

The Land we from our fathers had in trust,
And to our children will transmit, or die:
This is our maxim, this our piety;
And God and Nature say that it is just.
That which we would perform in arms--we must!
We read the dictate in the infant's eye;
In the wife's smile; and in the placid sky;
And, at our feet, amid the silent dust
Of them that were before us.--Sing aloud
Old songs, the precious music of the heart!
Give, herds and flocks, your voices to the wind!
While we go forth, a self-devoted crowd,
With weapons grasped in fearless hands, to assert
Our virtue, and to vindicate mankind.

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Composed 1809; published 1809.

MLA

Wordsworth, William. “Feelings of the Tyrolese.” Poetry Codex, poetrycodex.com/poem/wordsworth/231/.

Chicago

Wordsworth, William. “Feelings of the Tyrolese.” Poetry Codex. https://poetrycodex.com/poem/wordsworth/231/.

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