In dire situations, it is common for people to seek moral guidance. William Wordsworth and Paul Laurence Dunbar did this through poetry. The two poems, "London, 1802" and "Douglass", share a similar underlying cause, sentence formation and conditions of their particular country, but differ radically in tone, use of similes, structure and the author's objectives. the poems share multiple similarities, including the reason behind writing the odes. Both authors look longingly to the deceased men to serve as examples of the progress that was to be made in both their countries. In “London, 1802,” Wordsworth addresses John Milton, an English poet and political writer. He expresses concern for 18th-century England, saying that the English have become "selfish men" and lost sight of their heritage. With Milton's help, Wordsworth declared that the English would recover "their manners, their virtue, their liberty, and their power." In "Douglass," Dunbar speaks to Frederick Douglass, American writer and abolitionist leader, explaining how strong segregation and discrimination are., ...