Chapter IV: "alas! What Boots the Long Laborious Quest"

Composed 1809.--Published 1809[A]

Alas! what boots the long laborious quest
Of moral prudence, sought through good and ill;
Or pains[1] abstruse--to elevate the will,
And[2] lead us on to that transcendent rest
Where every passion shall the sway attest 5
Of Reason, seated on her sovereign hill;
What is it but a vain and curious skill,
If sapient Germany must lie deprest,
Beneath the brutal sword?--Her haughty Schools
Shall blush; and may not we with sorrow say, 10
A few strong instincts and a few plain rules,
Among the herdsmen of the Alps, have wrought
More for mankind at this unhappy day
Than all the pride of intellect and thought?

See the paper by Alois Brandl appended to this series of sonnets, p. 218. Wordsworth had probably no means of knowing anything of Fichte's "Addresses to the German Nation," delivered weekly in Berlin, from December 1807 to March 1808. (See _Fichte_, by Professor Adamson, pp. 84-91.)--ED.

VARIANTS:

[1] 1815.

... pain ... 1809.

[2] 1815.

Or ... 1809.

FOOTNOTES:

[A] In _The Friend_, November 16, under the title, _Sonnet suggested by the efforts of the Tyrolese, contrasted with the present state of Germany_.--ED.

V

ON THE FINAL SUBMISSION OF THE TYROLESE

Composed 1809.--Published 1809[A]

It was a _moral_ end for which they fought;
Else how, when mighty Thrones were put to shame,
Could they, poor Shepherds, have preserved an aim,
A resolution, or enlivening thought?
Nor hath that moral good been _vainly_ sought; 5
For in their magnanimity and fame
Powers have they left, an impulse, and a claim
Which neither can be overturned nor bought.
Sleep, Warriors, sleep! among your hills repose!
We know that ye, beneath the stern control 10
Of awful prudence, keep the unvanquished soul:
And when, impatient of her guilt and woes,
Europe breaks forth; then, Shepherds! shall ye rise
For perfect triumph o'er your Enemies.

FOOTNOTES:

[A] In _The Friend_, December 21, under the title, _On the report of the submission of the Tyrolese_.--ED.