The desertion of the liberal cause by Wordsworth, Southey, and others,
is the germinal idea of this poem. But Browning always strenuously
insisted that the resemblance went no further; that _The Lost
Leader_ is no true portrait of Wordsworth, though he became
poet-laureate. _The Lost Leader_ is a purely ideal conception,
developed by the process of idealization from an individual who serves
as a "lay figure."
13. =Shakespeare= was more of an aristocrat, surely, than a democrat.
Milton had championed the cause of liberty in prose and poetry, and
had worked for it as Cromwell's Latin secretary.
14. =Burns, Shelley=. What poems can you cite of either poet to place
him in this list?
Who is the speaker? What is the cause? Why does he not wish the "lost
leader" to return? How does he judge him? What does he expect for his
cause? What does he mean by lines 29-30? lines 31-32? Point out the
climax in the second stanza.