"We Are Seven" is a poem that deeply moved me. It tells of a conversation that Wordsworth had with a young girl. The girl was eight years old was one of seven children, but she had already lost two siblings. Similar to the young lady, Wordsworth had lost his mother at the age of eight. In this conversation, I believe that Wordsworth is tryint go teach the young lady that if two of the seven children are dead, then there are only five, including the young girl, and not seven.
"How many are you then," said I,
"If they two are in Heaven?"
The little Maiden did reply,
"O Master! we are seven."
(pg 201, lines 61-64)
Simply my reading the lines above, you can see that this was a tough task for Wordsworth because the girl refused to give up the notion that there are still seven of them, regardless of the death of her siblings. Upon reading the poem, I was able to empathize with the young lady and understand why she continued to count her two siblings as part of her family. Just because the two children had passed, does not give you a reason to erase them, forget them, or stop counting them as part of the family. I completely agree with the young lady, and i personall know what it feels like to lose a family member. I would never think to not count them as part of my family. "We Are Seven" is a poem that makes you stop to ask yourself, "If I was to lose a loved one, would I discontinue counting them as a member of my family when asked?" I would never think to do that. Therefore, I cannot understand why Wordsworth would attempt to teach the young girl to do so in his poem. "We Are Seven" is my personal favorite from Wordsworth because it is easy to understand, touching, and arouses somewhat of an emotional response.
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1 comment:
Mishawn,
You picked a good poem to discuss here, but I think one vital flaw in your reading misleads your interpretation. I do not think Wordsworth is the adult in the poem, or that he thinks the way the speaker does. As you point out, the poem is constructed to have you appreciate and prefer the girl's point of view, so why would Wordsworth have written it that way if he didn't believe death was more than an arithmetic problem of 7-2=5? It is usually a good idea to assume that the "I" who speaks in a poem is just another character, and not the poet; this poem is a classic example of why you should avoid that assumption.
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