Selected Poems of
William Wordsworth
By:
Christine Yoon
Shloka Joshi
My Heart Leaps Up
My heart leaps up when I behold
A rainbow in the sky:
So was it when my life began;
So is it now I am a man;
So be it when I shall grow old,
Or let me die!
The Child is father of the Man;
And I could wish my days to be
Bound each to each by natural piety.
My Heart Leaps Up
My heart leaps up when I behold
A rainbow in the sky:
Wordsworth expresses his desire to
be a part of the rainbow and its
magnificence.
My Heart Leaps Up
So was it when my life began;
So is it now I am a man;
This line insinuates that
Wordsworth found life to be
beautiful and still believes so to
this day.
My Heart Leaps Up
So be it when I shall grow old,
Or let me die!
Wordsworth claims that he would
rather die than lose his wonder of
the world.
My Heart Leaps Up
The Child is father of the Man;
This line suggests that the child
produces the man. The man is
made from childhood
experiences
My Heart Leaps Up
And I could wish my days to be
Bound each to each by natural
piety.
Wordsworth hopes that he will
always appreciate the wonders of
nature throughout his life.
Type, Rhyme and Theme
• This poem is a lyrical ballad
• The rhyme scheme in this poem is
ABCCABDE
• The theme of this poem is the
appreciation of nature and the
idea of Romanticism
Literary Devices
• Paradox- most important concept in
this poem
line 7- “The Child is father of the Man”
Wordsworth is seeing nature as if he were
a child again, and it makes him happy
to see the natural wonders of the world,
rather than the man made ones.
Symbolism
• The concept of the rainbow can be
construed as hope, promises or even a
fulfilled dream.
• Some cultures believe that the
rainbow is a bridge to the afterlife, one
for dead heroes to cross to reach
paradise, or Valhalla.
• The poem as a whole is symbolic of the
beauty of nature and Romanticism.
The Solitary Reaper
Behold her, single in the field, Yon solitary
Highland Lass! Reaping and singing by
herself; Stop here, or gently pass! Alone she
cuts and binds the grain, And sings a
melancholy strain; O listen! for the Vale
profound Is overflowing with the sound.
No Nightingale did ever chant More welcome
notes to weary bands Of travelers in some
shady haunt, Among Arabian sands: A voice
so thrilling ne'er was heard In spring-time
from the Cuckoo-bird, Breaking the silence
of the seas Among the farthest Hebrides.
The Solitary Reaper
Will no one tell me what she sings?-- Perhaps the
plaintive numbers flow For old, unhappy, far-
off things, And battles long ago: Or is it some
more humble lay, Familiar matter of to-day?
Some natural sorrow, loss, or pain, That has
been, and may be again?
Whate'er the theme, the Maiden sang As if her
song could have no ending; I saw her singing
at her work, And o'er the sickle bending; -- I
listened, motionless and still; And, as I
mounted up the hill The music in my heart I
bore, Long after it was heard no more.
The Solitary Reaper
Behold her, single in the field, Yon
solitary Highland Lass! Reaping and
singing by herself; Stop here, or gently
pass!
In this line, Wordsworth is telling the
audience to listen to a woman who is
singing to herself. He tells us to stop or
gently pass, as if not to disturb her.
The Solitary Reaper
Alone she cuts and binds the grain,
And sings a melancholy strain; O listen!
for the Vale profound Is overflowing
with the sound.
Wordsworth illustrates the woman
reaping and singing a sad song. He
tells the audience how the valley is
filled with the beautiful sound.
The Solitary Reaper
No Nightingale did ever chant More
welcome notes to weary bands Of
travelers in some shady haunt, Among
Arabian sands:
The woman’s voice cannot be
compared to a nightingale, who is
welcoming weary travelers.
The Solitary Reaper
A voice so thrilling ne'er was heard In
spring-time from the Cuckoo-bird,
Breaking the silence of the seas
Among the farthest Hebrides.
That even in the springtime, the
Cuckoo-bird’s voice was not as thrilling
as the woman’s voice.
The Solitary Reaper
Will no one tell me what she sings?--
Perhaps the plaintive numbers flow For
old, unhappy, far-off things, And
battles long ago
Wordsworth wonders what she might
be singing about. He guesses that she
is singing about old, sad things,
perhaps battles.
The Solitary Reaper
Or is it some more humble lay, Familiar
matter of to-day? Some natural
sorrow, loss, or pain, That has been,
and may be again?
The woman’s song might be of more
humble things, such as things of today.
The Solitary Reaper
Whate'er the theme, the Maiden sang
As if her song could have no ending; I
saw her singing at her work, And o'er
the sickle bending;
Whatever she might be singing about,
he is captivated by the woman’s
singing during her work.
The Solitary Reaper
I listened, motionless and still; And, as I
mounted up the hill The music in my
heart I bore, Long after it was heard no
more.
Wordsworth carries the memory of her
song even after he has passed her.
Anaylsis
• Four eight-line stanzas
• each ending with a couplet
• octosyllabic lines
• written in iambic tetrameter
• Each stanza follows a rhyme scheme of
ABABCCDD, though in the first and last stanzas
the "A" rhyme is off (field/self and sang/work).
• Idyll: lyric poetry describing the life of the
shepherd in pastoral, bucolic, idealistic terms.
Analysis
• the first stanza sets the scene
• the second offers two bird
comparisons for the music
• the third wonders about the content of
the songs
• the fourth describes the effect of the
songs on the speaker