Wordsworth's Excursion in Romantic Philanthropy

This essay proposes that Wordsworth's epic, The Excursion (1814), helped reopen the debate about poverty, and led the way towards a new definition of philanthropy for the second decade of the nineteenth century. Reaction to the French Revolution shut down debate on relief of poverty. Conservative paternalists defined poverty as a moral failure while liberals analyzed poverty in terms of laissez-faire economics. But The Excursion portrays an image of poverty at odds with both the liberal and conservative images. The poor are not the abstracted "Other," but rather individuals sharing a common human fate and worthy of compassion. Wordsworth's egalitarian individualism sets up a denunciation of laissez faire economics, and leads to progressive programs of state-sponsored education and labor regulation. These programs will benefit the entire nation by initiating an Evangelical imperialism that will make Britain the greatest nation in history.