London, 1802

There are two important literary contexts relevant to “London, 1802”: the figure of John Milton and what he represents in the English literary tradition, and the cultural and political ideals of Romanticism as a movement.

John Milton (1608-1674) was a towering figure in the world of English letters both during his own lifetime and posthumously. As an outspoken republican thinker, Milton rose to special prominence during the English Civil War in the mid-17th century and served in the government of Oliver Cromwell during the period of the Protectorate in the 1650s (See: Further Reading & Resources). While an outstanding poet, Milton also penned several highly influential works of prose, including Areopagitica (1644), an essay famous for advocating freedom of the press and freedom of speech amongst Englishmen. Although later left disillusioned by the outcome of Cromwell’s regime and the restoration of the monarchy in 1660, Milton remained loyal to his republican beliefs. His most famous work, Paradise Lost, first appeared in 1667 and again in a revised edition in 1674, the year of Milton’s death. Paradise Lost is an epic poem in the style of classical epics such as Homer’s Odyssey or Virgil’s Aeneid, recounting the creation of the world, the rebellion of Satan against God, and the expulsion of Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden. It is widely considered Milton’s greatest achievement.

For the Romantics, such as Wordsworth and William Blake, Milton was an important influence in both literary and political respects. Due to his outspoken republican beliefs and championing of free expression, Milton was the archetype of the English revolutionary intellectual, whose works had—for a time—bridged the gap between the life of the mind and the life of action in the political arena. As the author of Paradise Lost, Milton was revered as one of the greatest poets in the English language, while his figure of Satan was embraced by the Romantics as the ultimate “antihero” and rebel.

In “London, 1802”, Wordsworth uses Milton as a symbol of traditional English valor and republican idealism (See: Symbols & Motifs). In idealizing Milton and his time while lamenting the current state of England in his own day, Wordsworth’s sonnet is both a denunciation of the stagnation England faces, and a subtle call to arms for his readers and fellow poets to follow Milton’s example in pursuing civic virtue and cultural radicalism.