英国文学史(3)(英文版)

　　Although in some of his poems appearing in the two editions of “The Lyrical Ballads” of 1798 and 1800 and in his long auto-biographical poem “The Prelude” which he finished writing in 1805，Wordsworth already showed his unfavourable attitudetoward the Jacobin Dictatorship stage of the French Revolution (e.g.， Sonnet：One might believe that natural miseries / Had blasted France， and made of it a land / Unfit for men）， yet he also wrote during this period quite a number of poems showing his unmistakable sympa- thy for the common people in his protests against military aggres-sion and political tyranny in the international scene. In “To Tous-sant L'Ouverture” he praised the Negro chieftain who led an up-rising in Haiti； in “On the Extinction of the Venetian Republic” he bewailed the loss of freedom for the Venetian people； in “Thoughts of a Briton on the Subjugation of Switzerland” he showed much sym-pathy for the Swiss people who lost their liberty upon the invasion of the French army； in “Rob Roy's Grave” helamented the death of Rob Roy who fought for the freedom of the poor people in Scot-land； in “Milton， Thou Shouldst Be Living at This Hour” he ex-pressed his wish for someone like Milton to defend the freedom of the English people at the time. In fact， besides these outstanding and well-known sonnets that are remembered not only for their lofty thoughts but also for their artistic finish， there were many other poems， mostly sonnets， written by Wordsworth in defence ofnation-al liberty and in condemnation of political tyranny， not alone in his youth but also in lus later years (e；g.， his sonnets on the Tyrolese fight for liberty， on the struggle of the Spanish guerillas against French invaders in 1811， on the plight of the French army in Rus-sia in 1812-13 and on the Battle of Waterloo）. He was particular-ly anxious over the threatened invasion of England'by the'French army under Napoleon， and so h.is numerous sonnets written in. eu-Iogy of “British freedom” during the years of the Napoleonic wars are easily understandable as showing his patriotic feelings while he was obviously unaware of the regressive conservatism ofthe Brit-ish ruling class in league at the time with the reactionary regimes of Russia， Austria and Prussia (e.g.， Sonnets： “Inland， within a hol-low vale， I stood”， “It iS not to be thought of that the fiood”，“Vanguard of liberty， ye men of Kent”）. Also it should be pointed out here that Wordsworth was ever in sympathy with the oppression Jrom which the Negroes suffered at the time (e.g， Sonnets： “ToThomas Clarkson， on the Final Passing of the Bill for the Abolition of the Slave Trade， March， 1807” and “Driven from the soil of France，'a female came”）.　　……