Historical Discovery through Poetry

I have recently been interested in historical events that shape a country's

sovereignty and have begun to read the Romantics on the French Revolution

as I had read about and written on the Convention of Cintra or the treaty

between the French and English concluded on August 30, 1808 by which

the French evacuated Portugal.through a sonnet written by William

Wordsworth in which he expresses his astonishment and disapproval

of the Spanish prisoners and the dead soldiers as a result of this war.

Actually, Wordsworth was writing about the general anger of the poets

who disapproved of this convention and who openly wrote about it

and showed their anger in London. I think that England's final role

in this war was one of high diplomacy through which the English

legion negotiated a truce with France to withdraw her troops

in order to lessen the war casualties and establish peace; yet, I do

understand the poets' abreaction and their choice of siding solely

with Spain. Here is the sonnet in its entirety:

NOT ’mid the world’s vain objects that enslave

The free-born Soul—that World whose vaunted skill

In selfish interest perverts the will,

Whose factions lead astray the wise and brave—

Not there; but in dark wood and rocky cave,

And hollow vale which foaming torrents fill

With omnipresent murmur as they rave

Down their steep beds, that never shall be still:

Here, mighty Nature! in this school sublime

I weigh the hopes and fears of suffering Spain;

For her consult the auguries of time,

And through the human heart explore my way;

And look and listen—gathering, whence I may,

Triumph, and thoughts no bondage can restrain.