The Prose Works of William Wordsworth, Vol. 1

Wordsworth, Death and Politics

“…Hence, a parish-church, in the stillness of the country, is a visible centre of a community of the living and dead; a point to which are habitually referred the nearest concerns of both. 8 In this passage, the presence of the dead both chastises the parishioners and enhances their joy.…”

“…2 Once the ' social feelings have been developed', Wordsworth continues, the abstract enquiry of the individual extends towards the wider community: an individual will ask about her ancestors in the hope of later being preserved in communal memory as an ancestor. 3 The sense of immortality that balances the awareness of finitude is thus at the root of 'the sympathies of love towards each other, which grow with our growth'. 4 However, without contact, through memorials, with 'our internal Being', no social feelings would develop, and affection for others would dissolve in a mood of futility.…”

“…3 The sense of immortality that balances the awareness of finitude is thus at the root of 'the sympathies of love towards each other, which grow with our growth'. 4 However, without contact, through memorials, with 'our internal Being', no social feelings would develop, and affection for others would dissolve in a mood of futility. 5 Like Edmund Burke, then, Wordsworth holds that sociable affection depends upon links between the living and the dead, that monuments (for Wordsworth, epitaphs; for Burke, the traditions of church and monarchy) lovingly maintain 'a durable record of all our acts'.…”

“…4 However, without contact, through memorials, with 'our internal Being', no social feelings would develop, and affection for others would dissolve in a mood of futility. 5 Like Edmund Burke, then, Wordsworth holds that sociable affection depends upon links between the living and the dead, that monuments (for Wordsworth, epitaphs; for Burke, the traditions of church and monarchy) lovingly maintain 'a durable record of all our acts'. 6 Thus, although his discussion begins with the idea of immortality, it emerges that memory, affection and sociability are each predicated on death.…”

“…Belief in immortality redeems the 'hollowness [that] would pervade the whole system of things' thereby making affection and society possible. 7 In turn, sociable affection finds its purpose in protecting people against the chill of the grave. Wordsworth writes:…”