Ye brood of conscience Spectres! that frequentThe bad Man's restless walk, and haunt his bedFiends in your aspect, yet beneficentIn act, as hovering Angels when they spreadTheir wings to guard the unconscious InnocentSlow be the Statutes of the land to shareA laxity that could not but impair'Your' power to punish crime, and so prevent.And ye, Beliefs! coiled serpent-like … [Read more...] about Sonnets Upon The Punishment Of Death – In Series, 1839 – VI – Ye Brood Of Conscience Spectres!, By: William Wordsworth
Sonnets Upon The Punishment Of Death – In Series, 1839 – V – Not To The Object Specially Designed, By: William Wordsworth
Not to the object specially designed,Howe'er momentous in itself it be,Good to promote or curb depravity,Is the wise Legislator's view confined.His Spirit, when most severe, is oft most kind;As all Authority in earth dependsOn Love and Fear, their several powers he blends,Copying with awe the one Paternal mind.Uncaught by processes in show humane,He feels how far the act would … [Read more...] about Sonnets Upon The Punishment Of Death – In Series, 1839 – V – Not To The Object Specially Designed, By: William Wordsworth
Sonnets Upon The Punishment Of Death – In Series, 1839 – IV – Is ‘Death’, When Evil Against Good Has Fought, By: William Wordsworth
Is 'Death', when evil against good has foughtWith such fell mastery that a man may dareBy deeds the blackest purpose to lay bare?Is Death, for one to that condition brought,For him, or any one, the thing that oughtTo be 'most' dreaded? Lawgivers, beware,Lest, capital pains remitting till ye spareThe murderer, ye, by sanction to that thoughtSeemingly given, debase the general … [Read more...] about Sonnets Upon The Punishment Of Death – In Series, 1839 – IV – Is ‘Death’, When Evil Against Good Has Fought, By: William Wordsworth
Sonnets Upon The Punishment Of Death – In Series, 1839 – III – The Roman Consul Doomed His Sons To Die, By: William Wordsworth
The Roman Consul doomed his sons to dieWho had betrayed their country. The stern wordAfforded (may it through all time afford)A theme for praise and admiration high.Upon the surface of humanityHe rested not; its depths his mind explored;He felt; but his parental bosom's lordWas Duty, Duty calmed his agony.And some, we know, when they by willful actA single human life have … [Read more...] about Sonnets Upon The Punishment Of Death – In Series, 1839 – III – The Roman Consul Doomed His Sons To Die, By: William Wordsworth
Sonnets Upon The Punishment Of Death – In Series, 1839 – II – Tenderly Do We Feel By Nature’s Law, By: William Wordsworth
Tenderly do we feel by Nature's lawFor worst offenders: though the heart will heaveWith indignation, deeply moved we grieve,In after thought, for Him who stood in aweNeither of God nor man, and only saw,Lost wretch, a horrible device enthronedOn proud temptations, till the victim groanedUnder the steel his hand had dared to draw.But oh, restrain compassion, if its course,As oft … [Read more...] about Sonnets Upon The Punishment Of Death – In Series, 1839 – II – Tenderly Do We Feel By Nature’s Law, By: William Wordsworth