Poem Analysis: We Are Seven by William Wordsworth

Transcription

1 Poem Analysis: We Are Seven by William Wordsworth Arguing with someone who is set in their beliefs can be a difficult thing to do. Trying to get a child, who is so used to doing, or believing in something, is more difficult. In William Wordsworth s We Are Seven, the poet depicts a tale regarding the issue of whether or not to include two dead siblings as the current count of the amount of children, in a country girl s family. This poem is a reflection of an ordinary situation by ordinary means. But through the symbolism of death through a child versus an adult s eyes, the number seven, and swift uses of imagery, Wordsworth crafts a tale that through many questions, helps the reader search for multiple answers. The poem starts off with the persona of a traveling adult, questioning what could a child possibly know about death, and then recalling a cottage girl who when questioned, mentioned that she is one of seven children. Two of them are at a seaport town, Conway in north Wales, two are at sea (seamen), and then there is herself, who still lives with their mother in the cottage by the churchyard. This latter information proceeds after the child mentions that two of her siblings, a sister and a brother, lie in the church yard. Also confused (as the reader may be), the speaker inquires how there are seven siblings, when the child is alluding to two buried in the churchyard? The child insists and explains that they lie beneath the tree, underneath the green springtime grass. Sometimes the child knits her stockings there, hems her kerchiefs, or eats a bowl of porridge. The sister was the first to die, bedridden with sickness; the brother may have died of an illness contracted from the winter cold. The speaker asks twice more, how many children remain

2 if two are passed away; still his words fall on deaf ears for the child still answers that they are seven. As a part of Wordsworth s Lyrical Ballads, the poem follows the ballad form. This is due to the fact that it is telling a story, and the rhythm able to be translated into song ("Ballad"). The meter of the poem is iambic. In the first stanza of the poem, the first and second lines are dimeter and trimeter, and throughout the lines follow an iambic tetrameter reading. The rhyme scheme is ABCB in the first, tenth, fifteen and seventeenth stanza an irregularity compared to the ABAB of the rest of the poem. But overall, the ballad reads very smooth, in the instance of being set to music, but it is far from a jovial piece. This particular banter between adult and child, Wordsworth mentions in his Preface to Lyrical Ballads, perplexity and obscurity which I childhood attend our notion of death, or rather our utter inability to admit that notion (Reidhead). Whether revered, feared or sensationalized within our society, death has a presence and an occurrence in all living things. What happens after death, what some call the spiritual self, is up to debate. For the speaker, his opinion can be drawn from the first stanza and final stanza. Besides believing that a person goes to heaven after they have died, a religious belief, he wonders how a child, one who is simple...and feels its life in every limb, is able to understand the concept of death? If the child is so firm on her belief in that the amount of children remains seven, his twas throwing words away; for still the little Maid would have her will. A curious adult is inquiring on the life of a female child, who is living in a world where death is nonexistent the body and soul continue after they no longer walk the earth; she lives beside them she lives with them. She dines with them; she sings and included the sister in her play. In

3 stanzas five and six, the child mentions to the narrator that two are at sea, two at Conway, and two others that lie in the church yard. To any other person, to lie in a church yard is a euphemism for death, or alluding to the position of lying in buried in a coffin in a cemetery. Death involves this phrase, something the speaker seems to understand and playfully asks the child to explain how is that four siblings are away, yet not mentioning that the others are dead and buried, so clearly her logic must not be so, they are five remaining children (Wordsworth lines 1, 2, 67). With a firm insistence the child maintains her number, there are seven children total. What is crucial to this tale is that there is a difference in thinking, not necessarily age being the importance as some may think. There are some cultures, including our own to a certain extent, where living among the dead is practiced, may it be having their cremated remains in an urn on display or living in cemeteries though the latter seems to be occurring due to poverty. In her point of view, the child does not understand the concept of death her siblings went away, or...forced to go, due to sickness. There is no concept of the afterlife or that they are not a part of her family, they simply live somewhere else, as her other siblings do. They remain a part of the current family; they are not disregarded just because they are no longer physically present. The speaker, an adult, who understands the concept of death, sees...their spirits are in heaven, and are no longer a part of the tangible world. Out in the countryside, there could be a practice or tradition that the child has been reared to; to live among the dead is a normal thing. The innocence of the child and her understanding of inclusion of all that are in relation to her, and not seeing the lack of breath as a negative thing (she sings!), can come across as disturbing or endearing to some. The speaker, living in a modern world, and possibly having an encounter

4 with death and the grieving that may come with, doesn t see the soul as tied to the physical world. He sees the children as five and the departed siblings no longer a presence in the universe, as sad as it may be. He asks the questions to try and get her to understand his reasoning, one beyond her understanding (Wordsworth lines 52, 59, 66). Upon the first reading of this particular poem, the strange ring to the title, as well as the final statements of we are seven, brought about a wonder. The number seven, as odd as it is, is a favorite number, this is not restricted to just a personal note, but on a larger scale. The number seven is found within many novels (Harry Potter, Beloved etc.) and even in a variety of religions and creation stories, Judaism and Christianity are major examples. The Earth was created in seven days, there are seven colors of the rainbow, a promise God made to Noah after the flood, the pronunciation of the word 7 in Hebrew is the number of days allowed for mourning a lost one. Why is there only Seven Wonders of the World? Seven Deadly Sins, Agent 007, seven days in the week, the list can go on and on. Another interesting note is that including the title, the word seven appears within the poem, seven times. There is significance to the number, and whether or not Wordsworth did it on purpose, it is something that is worth being addressed. The number seven is found in many forms around the world, in religious or secular worlds, as it stands today and even in Wordsworth s time, the number seven is regarded as a powerful number. An argument could be made that the Hebrew pronunciation of 7 and the mourning could tie in that the child could be in a state of eternal mourning, although it isn t sad at all. Or with Christian or literary connection, the child s insistence for keeping the number equates to a state of unity and completeness, an element that is...not always conscious or explicit, seems in all ancient cultures... ("Seven"). God created the world in seven days, and therefore complete.

5 The child is one out of seven children, and the departed two shall always be included for together they are complete. Other than symbolism, the poem employs a lot of imagery. Even in the first stanza, the speaker allows the reader to visualize a child breathing and possibly alluding to the child using running about. The second and third stanza depicts a country child with rustic, woodland air... and possibly simple and heavily used clothing, as well as her curly hair and fair eyes (a light color). In the remaining stanzas, the speaker retells the child s tales of spending time with her brother and sister and where they lie. Paying attention to the environment, such as their graves are green, the reader knows that she is there not only in springtime (the poem s current season), fall (the sister s death) but in the winter time as well (the brother s death) (Wordsworth lines 9,37). This important use of imagery allows the reader to understand who the speaker is interacting with, his thoughts, as well as information that helps both the speaker and reader understand how attached the child is to her siblings, even in death. It is within Wordsworth s poem where a story that exudes truth and myth all in one. The tale sounds so absurd, but it is a strange truth for those who remain alive while their loved ones are no longer in the physical realm. There are those that choose to ignore and live on, and those who involve their departed ones in everyday of their lives. The simple fact that this is a child, who is able to insist and unify the living and the dead all at the tender age of eight, is an interesting tale indeed. The speaker s words may have felt as though it was throwing words away; for still/the little Maid... sees death not as anything subtracting from life, for death and

6 life are forever intertwined (Wordsworth lines 67 68). Always. Something even the strongest of adults have a hard time admitting. Works Cited "Ballad." Longman Dictionary of the English Language. Harlow: Reidhead, Julia. The Norton Anthology English Literature Romantic Period D. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, Inc, Print. "Seven." The New Interpreter s Dictionary of the Bible S Z. 5. Nashville: Wordsworth, William. Preface to Lyrical Ballads. Norton Anthology English Literature: Romantic Period Volume D. Ed. Julia Reidhead. New York: WW. Norton & Company, Inc, Print. Wordsworth, William. We Are Seven. Norton Anthology English Literature: Romantic Period Volume D. Ed. Julia Reidhead. New York: WW. Norton & Company, Inc, Print.