Things to Consider:

• Nature
• Imagination
• Power
• Solitude vs. Community
• Haitian Revolution (See Site )
• Characteristics of Romanticism :
• Emphasis on Emotion
• Relationship between Human and Nature
• Focus on Personal Experiences, things that influence the Human Mind
• Belief in the Power of the Imagination
• The Gothic and the Supernatural 
• The Sublime
• Social and Political Idealism

• Why is the Lyrical Ballads collection considered "revolutionary"?
• Why didn't Wordsworth marry Annette Villon?

TOUSSAINT, the most unhappy man of men! Whether the whistling Rustic tend his plough Within thy hearing, or thy head be now Pillowed in some deep dungeon's earless den;-- O miserable Chieftain! where and when Wilt thou find patience? Yet die not; do thou Wear rather in thy bonds a cheerful brow: Though fallen thyself, never to rise again,  Live, and take comfort. Thou hast left behind Powers that will work for thee; air, earth, and skies;      10 There's not a breathing of the common wind That will forget thee; thou hast great allies;  Thy friends are exultations, agonies,  And love, and man's unconquerable mind.

• Which Sonnet form does this better exemplify?  Explain.
• What literary techniques are used this poem?
• What is the theme of this poem?  Explain.
• How do Wordsworth's beliefs about Revolution and his beliefs about Nature relate to each other?
• How does this poem compare with Bei Dau's "Declaration"?

• What are the central subject and theme of this poem?
• What is "that inward eye / Which is the bliss of solitude" (15-16)? How does it compare with the "unconquerable mind" of the previous poem?

My heart leaps up when I behold     A Rainbow in the sky. So was it when my life began; So is it now I am a Man; So be it when I shall grow old     Or let me die! The Child is Father of the Man; And I should hope my days to be Bound each to each by natural piety.

• Explain:  "The Child is Father of the Man" (7).
• What is natural piety?  How can it bind days together?
• Is this a religious poem? Explain.