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Ecclesiastical Sonnets - Part II. - XLI - Distractions

By William Wordsworth

Topics: classic

Men, who have ceased to reverence, soon defy, Their forefathers; lo! sects are formed, and split With morbid restlessness; the ecstatic fit Spreads wide; though special mysteries multiply, 'The Saints must govern', is their common cry; And so they labour, deeming Holy Writ Disgraced by aught that seems content to sit Beneath the roof of settled Modesty. The Romanist exults; fresh hope he draws From the confusion, craftily incites The overweening, personates the mad To heap disgust upon the worthier Cause: Totters the Throne; the new-born Church is sad, For every wave against her peace unites.

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"Men, who have ceased to reverence, soon defy,..."

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Author:William Wordsworth

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"Men, who have ceased to reverence, soon defy,..." by William Wordsworth

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William Wordsworth

About William Wordsworth

William Wordsworth (1770–1850) was an English Romantic poet who launched the movement with Samuel Taylor Coleridge in "Lyrical Ballads" (1798). His poems—including "I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud" and "Tintern Abbey"—championed nature, memory, and the language of common speech.

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