Wordsworth’s Poems: Spain, Basque Country, and Democracy
The 12 poems mentioning Spain and The Basque Country show that Wordsworth was a fervent democrat. The Spanish cause won his heart. He was a man who perceived the universe as an equilibrium which man is constantly upsetting. His first general approach to the Spanish question emerged in the form of two sonnets composed in November or December 1808.
Freedom and Divine Harmony
The first sonnet expresses the conviction that freedom is the natural state of the soul and therefore an integral component of the divine harmony of which man is part. As tyranny is evil, it cannot be God’s will. This is why there must be freedom.
The Siege of Zaragoza
A few weeks later he composes two sonnets in which he makes reference to the siege of Zaragoza. It is the desperate and brave resistance of the men and women of Zaragossa under General José de Palafox y Melzi as narrated by Alexandro Laborde (in The Descriptive Itinerary of the Spanish Provinces published in 1809) that has moved many historians since and that impressed Wordsworth, inducing him to say in Sonnet XIII: “The truth was felt …. fear.”
Wordsworth refers to the dales (Sp. valles) of Zaragossa as “rude” and “untutored” and “naked to the gales” (l. 18). In this case he opposes nature outside to nature within because “though Nature’s dread protection fails …….in the soul” (l. 5-6). Again there is the idea of equilibrium in nature.
When Zaragossa finally has to surrender, defeated by disease as well as by the renewed pressure by the French troops (which resulted in the peace of Vienna signed on October 10, 1809) Wordsworth still hails the city as an everlasting example of bravery and “more than martial courage” (XV) Zaragossa has indeed fallen but leaves little to regret: admirable have been her fortitude and valour. The citizens and soldiers of Zaragossa are to be envied for they have completed the circle of their duty: they have done all that could be wished … and all that could be prayed for.
Wordsworth and the Spanish Cause
Wordsworth identifies with the Spanish cause. In fact, he is not often in the foreground in the sonnets dedicated to National Independence and Liberty. Wordsworth and all mankind are comprised in the “we”. Wordsworth might have become more conservative as years went by but his heart is still with the oppressed people. The people will not disappoint these hopes for their refusal of tyranny will result in the extraordinary phenomenon of the Spanish Guerillas, new in modern European warfare. He protests against tyranny but he never condemns a nation at large. In many of these poems, he expresses admiration for the resistance against tyranny all throughout history.
Thus the Spanish sonnets show that Wordsworth was a man of his time: great humaneness and profound belief in the divine order that would eventually lead to political order.
The Oak of Guernica
The theme of freedom culminates in the appeal to the “Oak of Guernica”, (XXVI), the holy tree that is still a symbol of Basque liberty and independence. He addresses the singularity of this “most venerable natural monument” and addresses it directly “Oak of Guernica”, and generalises its significance by comparing its holy power with that of Dodona (an ancient town in Epirus, Greece, seat of a temple of Zeus, and the oldest of Greek oracles).
The core of the sonnet lies in two rhetorical questions which link the theme to the historical facts of those times: L. 5; l. 11-14)