quote · Legacy record
Though cold as winter, gloomy as the grave, Stone walls a Prisoner make, but not a Slave. Shall man assume a property in man? Lay on the moral will a withering ban? Shame that our laws at distance should protect Enormities, which they at home reject! “Slaves cannot breathe in England”—a proud boast! And yet a mockery! if from coast to coast, Though fettered slave be none, her floors and soil Groan underneath a weight of slavish toil, For the poor many, measured out by rules Fetched with cupidity from heartless schools, That to an Idol, falsely called “the wealth Of Nations,” sacrifice a People’s health, Body, and mind, and soul, a thirst so keen Is ever urging on the vast machine Of sleepless Labour, ’mid whose dizzy wheels The power least prized is that which thinks and feels.
Though cold as winter, gloomy as the grave, Stone walls a Prisoner make, but not a Slave. Shall man assume a property in man? Lay on the moral will a withering ban? Shame that our laws at distance should protect Enormities, which they at home reject! “Slaves cannot breathe in England”—a proud boast! And yet a mockery! if from coast to coast, Though fettered slave be none, her floors and soil Groan underneath a weight of slavish toil, For the poor many, measured out by rules Fetched with cupidity from heartless schools, That to an Idol, falsely called “the wealth Of Nations,” sacrifice a People’s health, Body, and mind, and soul, a thirst so keen Is ever urging on the vast machine Of sleepless Labour, ’mid whose dizzy wheels The power least prized is that which thinks and feels.
Approximate author period: c. 1810 AD · industrial
Meaning not yet available
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Begin with source-checked readings and explanations ↗Attribution & collection notes
- Author or tradition
- William Wordsworth
Attribution: attributed - Country attributed
- Not established
A country attribution does not establish the earliest origin. - Historical period
- Approximate author period: c. 1810 AD · industrial
author lifetime midpoint (1770–1850)
An author lifetime, approximate period or collection date is not necessarily the date when these words were first written or spoken. - Recorded source
- A Cyclopædia of Sacred Poetical Quotations (catalogued1888) (1888 AD)
Page 548 · printed citation: Wordsworth · subject: SLAVERY
A collection's publication date can be later than the words it records.