Ode to Duty William Wordsworth

1. Ode to DutyWilliam Wordsworth By: Rehu, Hari, Theunissen & Rumold-Oldfield

2. Stanza 1 Stern Daughter of the Voice of God!O Duty! if that name thou loveWho art a Light to guide, a RodTo check the erring; and reprove;Thou who art victory and lawWhen empty terrors overawe;From vain temptations dost set free;From strife and from despair; a glorious ministry. • line 1 Personifies and addresses 'Duty' as the 'daughter of the voice of god'. • line 2 The narrator is unsure of her accepted name perhaps because she has many or he is just purely unaware 'if that name you love' • lines 3 & 4 Wordsworth views 'Duty' as a beacon of hope for those who are prone to error ('erring') someone who can steer them in the right direction • lines 5-8 Describes how in difficult and desperate times, 'Duty' will present herself so as to allow the self to fall away from 'vain temptation'.   Summary: Basically, Wordsworth is just telling us a bit about 'Duty', personifying her and illustrating how close she is to God and the purity surrounding Heaven and the like. This being because she is apparently the daughter of God. I think that 'Duty' could just be another name for 'Nature' or 'Mother Nature' to create a personified image.

3. Stanza 2 There are who ask not if thine eyeBe on them; who, in love and truth, Where no misgiving is, relyUpon the genial sense of youth:Glad Hearts! without reproach or blot;Who do thy work, and know it not:May joy be theirs while life shall last!And Thou, if they should totter, teach them to stand fast! • Lines 1-4 These lines are referring to children who do not know that ‘Duty’ has her eye on them. ‘Ask not if thine eye be on them’ confirms that WW is referring to children because children don’t stop to think about external forces that may or may not be playing a part in their lives because of their innocent and naïve minds. • Lines 5-8 Drive home the relationship between purity, heaven, and goodness to the ‘genial sense of youth’ or the ‘child mind’ as in the line ‘Who do thy work, and know it not’. Summary: This stanza is talking simply about children. Wordsworth says that 'There are who ask not if thine eye be on them' which could be referring to how their mind is so innocent that they don't even stop to think of any higher power around them. Also, he refers to an innocent mind a second time: 'who do thy work, and know it not'. In the last 2 lines, Wordsworth says that he wants the children to have the same joy that they have now throughout their entire lives, and he hopes that 'Duty' will save them if they falter i.e. so protect their innocence and help them to resist the 'vain temptations' of the adult world.

4. Stanza 3 Serene will be our days and bright,And happy will our nature be,When love is an unerring light,And joy its own security. And blessed are they who in the mainThis faith, even now, do entertain:Live in the spirit of this creed;Yet find that other strength, according to their need. • lines 1-4 WW is saying that those who follow Duty’s ways will sleep peacefully and their personality will reflect happiness • lines 5-8 WW writes that those who are now older still maintain a connection to their innocent and natural child minds whilst attaining other strengths according to their lives should be blessed.   Summary: WW seems to be trying to bridge the gap between childhood and adulthood by saying that all though the physical self is an adult, the mental self can still revert back to its childlike state.

5. Stanza 4 I, loving freedom, and untried;No sport of every random gust,Yet being to myself a guide,Too blindly have reposed my trust:Resolved that nothing e’er should pressUpon my present happiness, I shoved unwelcome tasks away;But thee I now would serve more strictly, if I may. • Lines 1-4 These are describing the narrators attitude in the past. He/She has been relying on his/her feelings as a means of guidance but they have lead him/her astray. • Lines 5-8 The narrator just wants to live his/her life the way he/she wants to, however, he/she previously believed that nothing could affect his happiness so he shunned ‘Duty’ and her ways. But now he/she is willing to listen to ‘Duty’ if she will talk to him/her. Summary: This stanza paints us a more distinctive picture of why the narrator is telling us about ‘Duty’. The narrator seems to be requesting the help of ‘Duty’ because something in his/her life has thrown him/her off course.

6. Stanza 5 Through no disturbance of my soul,Or strong compunction in me wrought,I supplicate for thy controul;But in the quietness of thought:Me this unchartered freedom tires;I feel the weight of chance desires:My hopes no more must change their name,I long for a repose which ever is the same. • Lines 1-4 The narrator wants to control his/her own life and not be controlled emotions that lead to his/her loss of peace. He/She is looking for a new start. • Lines 5-8 These are a continuation and further confirmation of the narrators desperation to turn his/her life around with the help of ‘Duty’. Summary: This stanza is the narrator’s further cries for help from ‘Duty’. He/She is begging for her help because he/she is desperate and because he/she is unsure if ‘Duty’ will provide help because of his/her past.

7. Stanza 6 Yet not the less would I throughoutStill act according to the voiceOf my own wish; and feel past doubtThat my submissiveness was choice:Not seeking in the school of prideFor ‘precepts over dignified,’Denial and restraint I prizeNo farther than they breed a second Will more wise. • Lines 1-4 The narrator tries to rationalize his/her actions in the past claiming that he/she felt that what he/she was doing was just an expression of free will, caused by his foolish emotional impulses. • Lines 5-8 Something has occurred in the narrators life which has made him/her realise that his/her previous way of life was deeply flawed and so he/she is searching for a ‘second will more wise’. Summary: The narrator is again recalling and thus trying to account for his attitude and actions in the past as being driven by ignorance towards what expressing free will truly represents and is.

8. Stanza 7 Stern Lawgiver! yet thou dost wearThe Godhead’s most benignant grace; Nor know we any thing so fairAs is the smile upon thy face;Flowers laugh before thee on their beds;And Fragrance in thy footing treads;Thou dost preserve the Stars from wrong;And the most ancient Heavens through Thee are fresh and strong. • Lines 1-4 The narrator mentions how ‘Duty’ has a Godly face which is most pleasant and beneficial to nature. • Lines 5-8 The flowers follow ‘Duty’ everywhere she goes, producing beautiful fragrances before her. The stars do not wander about the Heavens as they want to remain in place over ‘Duty’ following her to the Heavens. Summary: Basically, this stanza is made up of the narrators attempts to flatter ‘Duty’. ‘Duty’ is recognized by all those in nature because she is God’s eye on the nature front and so she is benignant.

9. Stanza 8 To humbler functions, awful Power!I call thee: I myself commendUnto thy guidance from this hour;Oh! let my weakness have an end!Give unto me, made lowly wise,The spirit of self-sacrifice;The confidence of reason give;And in the light of truth thy Bondman let me live! • Line 1 One must be humble in order to reap the rewards that ‘Duty’ can supply. • Lines 2-4 The narrator is ‘giving’ himself mentally, spiritually and somewhat physically to ‘Duty’. • Lines 5-8 The narrator wants the ‘spirit of self-sacrifice’, ‘the confidence of reason’, and he wants to live forever in ‘the light of truth’ subsequently freeing his heart, mind and body so that he can follow one’s true self, The Soul. Summary: This is the narrator’s final plea to ‘Duty’ saying what he/she wants from ‘Duty’.

10. Background Info • This poem is considered to be the turning point in WW’s career because it sparked a new attitude towards life. • It was written in 1805 which was the peak of the French Revolution which was run by Napoleon Bonaparte. In February 1805, WW’s brother John was shipwrecked at sea and drowned. This poem seems to be a kind of rebound from these events in WW’s life. • It seems to be a sort of confession, an admission that actions WW had done previously were farce because his former creed was just an illusion.

11. Themes All of the themes in this poem relate back to the purity and serenity of God & all that is represented by Him & Heaven as is commonly found in most if not all of WW’s poems. The 2 prevalent ones in this poem are: • Childhood/Youth • Freedom

12. Freedom • Free will is found by first being obedient and freedom is dependant on where one’s loyalties lie (‘spirit of self sacrifice’). WW came to these conclusions after following his emotions and ‘chance desires’. It was an ‘unchartered freedom’, which was the ‘dungeon of Ignorance’. • This ‘unchartered freedom’ was his former illusionary creed. • So in order to truly find & then appreciate freedom, WW figured that he must be obedient to ‘Duty’ who could lead him to it. Thus the flattery in the last 2 stanzas and

13. Childhood/Youth • WW was, previous to writing this poem, not unlike a child at heart. He was naïve, vulnerable and technically just a lost soul attempting to find his way through what he thought to be a troubled world.