The Temperate Zone

SUCH is the envied situation of England, which may be compared, if I may be allowed the expression, to the situation of the temperate zone on the surface of the globe, equally removed from the polar frosts on the one hand and the scorching heat of the torrid zone on the other.

And what a splendid contrast does it form to the situation of that country which is exposed to all the tremendous consequences of that ungovernable, that intolerable and destroying spirit, which carries ruin and desolation wherever it goes. Sir, this infection can have no existence in this happy land, unless it is imported, unless it is studiously and industriously brought into this country. These principles are not the natural produce of Great Britain, and it ought to be our first duty and principal concern, to take the most effectual measures in order to stop their growth and progress in this country, as well as in the other nations of Europe.

From ‘The War Speeches Of William Pitt The Younger’ (1915), by Sir Reginald Coupland (1884-1952).
Questions for Critics

1. What is the author aiming to achieve in writing this?

2. Note any words, devices or turns of phrase that strike you. How do they help the author communicate his ideas more effectively?

3. What impression does this passage make on you? How might you put that impression into words?

Based on The English Critic (1939) by NL Clay, drawing on The New Criticism: A Lecture Delivered at Columbia University, March 9, 1910, by J. E. Spingarn, Professor of Comparative Literature in Columbia University, USA.

Read Next

Winter Wisdom

William Cowper feels he has learnt more on one short walk than in many hours of study.

A Matter of National Security

As various ball sports began to take hold in England, King Edward III became convinced that Government action was required.

The Evacuation of Dunkirk

The fate of the British army hung by a thread in May 1940, but ships large and small, military and civilian, came to the rescue.