Selected Wordsworth Poems: How to read them, understand them and write truly insightful analyses on them

Ticking Mind Classics
SELECTED
WORDSWORTH
POEMS
HOW TO READ THEM,UNDERSTAND THEM
& WRITE TRULY INSIGHTFUL ANALYSES OF THEM
Preview

2
Selected Wordsworth poems: how to read them,
understand them and wrote a truly insightful analyses
of them
Copyright © Ticking Mind 2019
All rights reserved.
Except under the conditions described in the
Copyright Act 1968 of Australia and subsequent
amendments, no part of this publications may
be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system,
or transmitted in any form or by any means,
electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording
or otherwise, without the prior permission of the
copyright owner.
First Published 2019 by:
Ticking Mind Publications, Northcote.
ISBN 978-0-9944258-6-7
Preview

3SELECTED WORDSWORTH POEMS
CONTENTS
Romanticism..................................................................................... 4
The key ideas.................................................................................... 4
Imagery............................................................................................ 6
How to read poems............................................................................ 8
Essay questions.............................................................................. 14
We should praise & embrace nature
Composed upon Westminster Bridge, September 3 .........................................................................16
My heart leaps up when I behold......................................................................................................... 22
The world is too much with us.............................................................................................................. 26
To the cuckoo.........................................................................................................................................30
Lines composed a few miles above Tintern Abbey............................................................................36
Death is an essential & unstoppable element of nature
A slumber did my spirit seal..................................................................................................................54
Strange fits of passion I have known ..................................................................................................58
Surprised by joy—impatient as the Wind.............................................................................................64
Simplon Pass...........................................................................................................................................70
Reflection and contemplation are essential to life
Travelling................................................................................................................................................. 76
I wandered lonely as a cloud.................................................................................................................80
The solitary reaper.................................................................................................................................86
Art, poetry & an appreciation of the epic nature of life
are important
London, 1802..........................................................................................................................................94
Extempore effusion upon the death of James Hogg........................................................................98
Preview

4
ROMANTICISM
One of the reasons that Wordsworth is an important poet is that he (and a couple of other poets and
writers) was one of the leading thinkers in an intellectual ideal called the Romantic Period. Although the
name ‘romantic’ might make you think of mushy kisses, red roses and bad ’90s rom-coms, it actually
means a bit more than this. Reading Wordsworth’s poetry will give you a pretty good indication of
what the Romantic Period meant, so you really don’t need to do any more research (unless you’re
super-keen, but remember that doing more research won’t necessarily help you write an awesome
essay). However, it might help you to remember that the Romantic movement was a reaction to the
Age of Enlightenment – a period of time just before the romantic movement that focused on scien-
tific advances (when cool theories were developed, like needing oxygen to breath), development in
technology and people moving to the cities. The Romantic movement found all of this science stuff
super-boring and they hated the new cities because cities were smoggy and filled with other people.
Listed below are a few essential things the Romantics did believe in:
• Nature is awesome: the Romantic movement was all about describing how amazing nature is.
• Emotions are super-cool: having emotions was important to Romantics because it separated
them from the rational, scientific thinkers who only liked logic and were basically robots.
• Life was better in the good old days: and when they said ‘good old days’, Romantics meant the
Medieval period when men were heroes and women were delicate damsels who needed to be
rescued.
• Art is awesome: music, poetry and literature will help make you a better person. Way better
than boring old science will. And people who write music, poetry or literature? Heroes.
• Everyone needs a bit of shush: Romantics thought that being surrounded by people stifled
creativity, so it was important to get out into nature on your own and just…feel it.
THE KEY IDEAS
While all Wordsworth’s poems generally espouse romantic ideals, he also reflects on different, specific
aspects of romanticism in each of his poems. To allow you to better see how Wordsworth develops
these specific themes in his poetry, this guide divides his poems into four different groups, based upon
the romantic principles they explore. At the top of each category is the main principle and beneath
this are different ways of thinking about them. However, as you read through the poems and their
analyses, you will also realise that while a poem might focus on a certain romantic principle (like ‘death
is an essential and unstoppable element of nature’), it will invariably also include other ideas (such as
‘reflection and contemplation are essential to life’).
Preview

Main idea:
We should praise and embrace nature
• Nature is a place of freedom, beauty, joy and purity
• Nature and childhood are connected through innocence
• People who are close to nature are free and happy
• When we live away from nature, in cities or in a materialistic life, we lead unhappy,
meaningless lives
• Human life is a smaller part of the greater whole of nature
Main idea:
Death is an essential and unstoppable element of nature
• The finality of death highlights the beauty and fragility of life
• The mortality of our lives is frightening
Main idea:
Reflection and contemplation are essential to life
• We are able to examine our inner selves when we are alone
• Nature provides space for solitude
• Inner reflection helps us to understand that emotions (of all kinds) are an important part
of the human experience
Main idea:
Art, poetry and an appreciation of the epic nature of life are important
• Great romantic poets allow us to witness and see the true beauty of nature and life
• Romantic ideals and the romantic life are doomed at the hands of a materialistic and
industrial age
Preview

6
Image Icon What it means
Dreams Wordsworth frequently describes experiences of dreams
or daydreams in his poetry. This recurring motif emphasises
how life should not just be made up of practical, everyday
matters, but should include spiritual and imaginative
experiences that belong to the mind.
Air Air, breezes and wind are all symbols of how nature (and
people when they are in nature) moves freely and purely.
Time and
transitions
Wordsworth often refers to time changing – whether it’s the
sun and moon going up and down, the seasons turning or
the years passing. These references to time and transitions
emphasise how we can grow and change in life but also how
the cycle of life is unstoppable.
Death A key element of romantic poetry is to idealise and glorify
emotionally profound and tragic elements of life. Since there
is nothing more tragic than death, references to graves,
funerals and eternity feature a lot in Wordsworth’s poems.
Religion While many of Wordsworth’s poems have a pagan (pre-
Christian) reverence for nature, Wordsworth still relies on
the type of Christian religious imagery (references to heaven
and God) his audience would have been familiar with to
elevate the things he describes in his poems to a divine level.
Aural Aural imagery – references to music, harmony, or gentle and
lulling sounds – characterise nature as a place of beautiful
serenity and musicality.
Celestial Celestial means anything belonging to the sky or space.
Throughout his poetry, Wordsworth invokes imagery of the
sky, generally, or the sun, moon or stars, more specifically.
This creates a sense of things that are majestic and luminous
– beyond the merely land-bound and low activities of human
life, which is concerned only with consuming and making
money.
IMAGERY
Preview

Image Icon What it means
Water Water is an essential element of life and Wordsworth uses
this symbol in two different ways in his poems. When he
references rivers and streams, he is usually emphasising how
nature moves freely and purely. However, when he evokes
the sea or the ocean, he is usually conjuring a sense of the
turbulent power of nature.
Tranquillity Taking the time to contemplate and reflect on life is
an important idea throughout Wordsworth’s poems.
Wordsworth often characterises nature as a place of serenity
and tranquillity to illustrate how it can provide the ideal
conditions for introspection.
Sleep Sleep can represent both a place of tranquillity and dreams,
but also the ‘eternal sleep’ – death.
Heart The heart is used as a symbol of our emotional selves. Since
Wordsworth’s poems often revolve around the emotional
impact and meaning of experiences, he frequently uses the
heart to represent the force that feelings have upon him.
Perception Wordsworth regularly refers to eyes or describes the action
of seeing, looking, gazing and beholding – or the opposite,
being blind. In each of these references, he emphasises the
importance of looking carefully and thoughtfully, and of
being aware of the world around us, rather than hurrying
through life in an unobservant way.
Preview

8
So, you’re confronted with a collection of poetry and you don’t know how to interpret the weird
shapes the words are making on the page. Don’t worry – we’re here to help you figure it out! There are
a few different ways you can read a poem:
1. Form level: Look at the form of the poem (the table on the next page can help you with this):
each poetic form has a different purpose and Wordsworth chooses his poetic form in a fairly
traditional way. The overall, ‘big idea’ of the poem will be influenced by the form it takes.
2. Stanza level: If the poem is broken up into smaller sections, or stanzas, just try to figure out
what is happening in each of them. Sometimes, you will find that you can understand what is
happening in most of the stanzas, even if you don’t ‘get’ every single one.
3. Sentence level: Wordsworth’s poems are made up of individual sentences, just like ‘normal’
or prose writing. Sometimes, you will find it easier to read and interpret poems if you just
re-type the poem, so it looks more like the sentences you are used to. Let’s look at one of
Wordsworth’s poems in two different ways:
Poetic format:
This is the spot:—how mildly does the sun
Shine in between the fading leaves! the air
In the habitual silence of this wood
Is more than silent: and this bed of heath—
Where shall we find so sweet a resting-place?
Come, let me see thee sink into a dream
Of quiet thoughts, protracted till thine eye
Be calm as water when the winds are gone
And no one can tell whither. My sweet friend,
We two have had such happy hours together
That my heart melts in me to think of it.
‘Normal’ sentence format:
This is the spot: —how mildly does the sun shine in between the fading leaves! The air in the
habitual silence of this wood is more than silent: and this bed of heath – where shall we find so
sweet a resting-place? Come, let me see thee sink into a dream of quiet thoughts, protracted
till thine eye be calm as water when the winds are gone and no one can tell whither. My sweet
friend, we two have had such happy hours together that my heart melts in me to think of it.
4. Line level: Just look at one line at a time and pay attention to any patterns in the words or
unusual breaks within the line, asking yourself what effects these things have.
5. Word level: Sometimes a word will have more than one meaning or will give you certain
connotations. For instance, the word ‘gold’ has connotations of purity and excellence
even though it may only be a chemical element, or a piece of money.
HOW TO READ POEMS
Preview

However, there are also a whole bunch of special poetic techniques and terms that are useful to know.
On the next few pages, there are a range of tables of poetic terms.
Poetic Form
Not all poems are the same. Different poems have certain structures that will give you a clue about
how to read and interpret them. Wordsworth uses five main poetic forms that you should know about.
In order to understand these definitions, you should first know that the lines of a poem can be broken
into chunks or sections and these chunks are called stanzas, which are kind of like paragraphs in normal
(prose) writing.
Look at the table on the next page to show you the differences between each of these poetic forms and
an explanation of how the purpose of each of these poem types is different.
Preview

10
Poem Type Form Purpose
Sonnet Fourteen lines in total: the first eight
lines are called an ‘octet’ and the
last six lines are called a ‘sestet’, or
‘sextet’.
The ninth line of a sonnet is called
the ‘volte’, or turning point, because
it marks a turning point in the poet’s
thoughts.
Wordsworth writes Petrarchan
or classical sonnets (different to
Shakespearean sonnets).
A sonnet compares two
different aspects to the one
idea: the octet shows one
idea and the sestet offers an
alternative.
Ballad A ballad is several stanzas long and
typically each stanza has four lines in
a rhyming ABAB pattern.
A ballad is a story-telling poem.
Lyric This sort of poem is quite common
in modern poetry, but it was more
unusual in Wordsworth’s time.
Lyric poetry does not have any
formal structure, and it may be
written without stanzas and without
any formal rhyming or rhythmic
sequence. However, there will be
other ways that the ideas and images
in the poem will be linked.
A lyric poem explores emotions,
feelings and ideas.
Ode Usually, an ode has a regular rhyming
sequence and can be divided into
stanzas, but each ode can be slightly
different.
An ode is designed to praise,
celebrate or otherwise describe
how awesome a person or thing
is.
Elegy Traditionally, an elegy is written in
a set rhyming sequence and the
stanzas have four lines in each, so it
can look a bit like a ballad, but it has
an entirely different purpose.
An elegy expresses sadness or
regret about a tragic event,
particularly a person dying.
Preview

Poetic Techniques
In order to sound like a true expert in analysing poetry, you really want to have a good understanding
of some poetic techniques. While these can seem a bit tricky at first, if you practise analysing just one
at a time you will soon get the hang of them. In the table below there are some brief descriptions of
the major techniques Wordsworth uses and a very general explanation of how each technique works.
It’s very important to remember that these explanations are only a rough guide and are not a substi-
tute for you doing your own thinking and interpretation. You should always ask yourself the question:
“I know how this technique sort of works, but is it working in an expected or unexpected way here?”
Poetic Technique What is it? What effect might it have?
Rhyme Usually, the final word of one line will
rhyme with the final word of another
line. Sometimes, there might be an
internal rhyme where the word in the
middle of a line rhymes with a word
elsewhere.
Connects words (and
therefore ideas) together.
Could contrast words and
ideas.
Rhythm There are a whole range of poetic
rhythms, but essentially the rhythm of
a poem decides how quickly or slowly
you read through a poem and which
words have more emphasis on them.
Below, there is a more detailed chart
for describing different rhythms.
Can make the poem seem
more urgent or more relaxed
and contemplative.
Repetition When a word, phrase or sound is used
more than once.
Can add emphasis to that
word, sound or phrase.
Might be used to highlight a
transformation.
Caesura A pause in the middle of a poetic line,
due to some kind of punctuation.
Breaks the rhythm of the
poem and can either create
silence within the poetic line
or add emphasis to a word,
phrase or idea.
Personification When inanimate objects, such as
trees, rocks, clouds, etc. are given the
qualities of a human (such as having
emotions or thoughts).
Helps the reader to connect
with the inanimate object.
Can also help to convey a
mood or thought.
Preview

12
Poetic Technique What is it? What effect might it have?
Oxymoron When two opposite or contrasting
ideas are put together, such as
‘deafening silence’ or ‘bittersweet’ or
‘sweet sorrow’.
Gives each opposing idea a
fresh perspective and a new
way of thinking about them.
Onomatopoeia When words are spelt in a way that it
sounds like the thing it describes: like
‘shush’ or ‘murmur’.
Can evoke a strong, physical
sense of the thing or idea
being described.
Assonance Words in relatively close proximity (on
the same line, or in the same position)
contain similar sounds that are not
quite a rhyme – like ‘hour and clouds’
or ‘thwarting winds’.
Operates in a similar way to
rhymes.
Alliteration Words that share a starting sound - like
‘the girl grimly grinned’.
Connects words together.
Can also create an evocative
sound pattern that brings an
extra quality to the image
being presented.
Susurration Susurration is a type of alliteration or
assonance, that particularly describes
an ‘s’ sound.
Creates a whispering sound in
the poem.
Could also evoke the wind or
the sea.
Soft sounds Some letters like L, F, H and M
create softer sounds, leading to more
murmuring sounds when you say them.
Evokes a gentler, more
musical mood. Could also
sound more stereotypically
feminine.
Hard sounds Some letters like K, T, G, P, Q and Z
create harsher, more emphatic sounds
when you say them.
Evokes a jarring feeling
or a sense of hardness or
abruptness.
Could also sound more
traditionally masculine.
Preview

Rhythm
We’ve put an extra section in here to describe some of the different poetic rhythms you will come
across (and, as usual, some suggestions for the effect they create). Don’t worry too much about all
of these different rhythms, because you probably won’t write very much about them in your essay
– they’re just here to help you if you’re interested. Before you can understand how rhythm works,
though, you need to know a couple of things.
1. Words are made up of individual syllables - the ‘chunks’ of sound in a word, like this:
Words are made up of in div id u al syll a bles…
2. Music has a beat, poetry has ‘feet’. Wordsworth’s poetic feet typically have two syllables in
them – the two syllables might come from the same word or two different words.
Usually, poetic rhythm is described by the number of feet in each line as well as the kind of rhythm
each foot has. Wordsworth’s favourite poetic rhythm is iambic pentameter.
Look in the table below to see what that means.
Type of rhythm What is it?
Pentameter Five feet (ten syllables) per line. This is usually a more classical or
formal style of meter.
Tetrameter Four feet (eight syllables) per line. This is a meter usually associated
with songs, storytelling and ballads.
Iambic An iamb is a soft syllable followed by a stronger syllable: a da-dum
sound. The strong ‘dum’ sound puts an emphasis on certain words
or sounds. This sort of rhythm can sound like a heartbeat. It’s also
the most common type of poetic foot, because most two-syllable
English words have the emphasis on the second syllable.
Trochaic A trochee is the opposite of an iamb. It creates a weird, dum-da
rhythm that can be unsettling.
Preview

NOW IT'S YOUR TURN
14
NOW IT'S YOUR TURNESSAY QUESTIONS
“Tumult and peace, the darkness and the light.”
‘While Wordsworth celebrates the beauty of nature,
he also represents the darkness of death.’ Discuss.
How does Wordsworth illustrate the romantic beauty
of nature in his poetry?
‘Wordsworth shows that it is essential to reflect on our
existence in order to lead a meaningful life.’ Discuss.
‘Wordsworth’s poetry shows that it is more important to connect
with nature than lead a life dedicated to consuming.’ Discuss.
Discuss the role of solitude in Wordsworth’s poetry.
‘It is Wordsworth’s imagery that gives his poetry its power.’ Discuss.
“My heart leaps up when I behold / A rainbow in the sky.”
‘Wordsworth’s poetry expresses both joy and melancholy about the beauty of life.’
Discuss.
‘Wordsworth’s poems are filled with allusions to both the stunning power
and tranquillity of nature.’ Discuss.
“England hath need of thee: she is a fen.”
How is Wordsworth’s poetry a critique of society’s values?
‘Wordsworth’s poetry reveals both an awe of nature and a fear of its destructive
powers.’ Discuss.
‘It is only when we are alone in nature that we can truly understand ourselves.’
How do Wordsworth’s poems explore this idea?
Preview

WE SHOULD
PRAISE
EMBRACE
NATURE
Preview

1616
In this poem, the poet is admiring the beauty of the rising sun from a bridge in the
centre of London. As you read this poem, think about how the poet describes:
• The effect nature should have on other people
• How nature makes the city appear
• How nature affects him
What to watch out for:
THE HEADLINE:
Sunrise looks great from bridge
Insights Annotations
Composed upon Westminster Bridge, September 3
Earth has not any thing to show more fair:
Dull would he be of soul who could pass by
A sight so touching in its majesty:
This City now doth, like a garment, wear
The beauty of the morning; silent, bare,
Ships, towers, domes, theatres, and temples lie
Open unto the fields, and to the sky;
All bright and glittering in the smokeless air.
Never did sun more beautifully steep
In his first splendour, valley, rock, or hill;
Ne'er saw I, never felt, a calm so deep!
The river glideth at his own sweet will:
Dear God! the very houses seem asleep;
And all that mighty heart is lying still!
dull: boring
majesty: royal and elegant
beauty
garment: a piece of clothing
steep: to soak food in liquid
for flavour
splendour: the beautiful and
impressive appearance of
something
ne’er: never glideth: glides
Preview

17SELECTED WORDSWORTH POEMS 17SELECTED WORDSWORTH POEMS
Poem analysis:
This poem is a sonnet, which means that it has fourteen lines. More importantly, these lines are divided
up into two groups: an octet (eight lines) and a sestet (of six lines). That is so that a sonnet can look at
two different ideas and show us how they are related.
Ideas Techniques
Octet
In Wordsworth’s sonnet, the octet
explores the idea that the city is big,
majestic and impressive.
impressive, Wordsworth peppers his poem with hard
consonants:
A sight so touching in its majesty
Because it’s difficult to pronounce these hard sounds
quickly, using them in a poem slows the rhythm and
makes the opening octet more dignified, like a grand
old city. Throughout this octet, there are many pauses
within the lines, called caesuras, that slow the poem
further, demonstrating the poet’s thoughts and sense
of wonder in the quiet dignity of the city.
Sestet
In the sestet, the poet’s attention shifts
to the rising sun and how it infuses the
city with its warmth and light as it rises
above the horizon.
So, the main thing that Wordsworth
is pointing out is that the city is made
more beautiful because it is embellished
by the natural world. But he also draws
a comparison between the spiritual
nourishment that he gains from nature
and the metaphorical nourishment that
a city can have because it too is a part of
nature, sitting in the greater landscape.
The hard sounds of the consonants are replaced with
the softer ‘s’, ‘n’ and ‘l’ sounds:
Never did the sun so beautifully steep
This emphasises the softer influence of nature as it
infuses (steep is another word for infuses) across
the cityscape that Wordsworth is watching. Also,
throughout this sestet, the ‘er’ sounds repeat, like the
river that runs through the city, in a gentle rhythm that
lulls the reader, just as the river lulls the inhabitants of
the city to sleep. It is as though the “mighty heart” of
the city has been soothed to sleep by the landscape
that surrounds and nourishes it.
The big idea
In this poem, Wordsworth is looking at London in the early hours of the morning. He is admiring
the beauty and majesty of the city and he cannot fail to be impressed by it. However, he is also
pointing out that the city is made more impressive by the nature that surrounds and infuses it: the
sunlight that steeps over the buildings, and the river that runs through the centre of London. His
point is that the city has been given beauty because it has become a part of the greater natural
world: that the city is calmed and soothed by the natural world, just as he is.
Preview

18
Thinking about the elements of nature
Wordsworth begins this poem by describing the nature clothing the city in “majesty”. This means
nature is able to provide these royal qualities:
• supreme power
• magnificence
• loveliness / grace
• dignity
• the ability to inspire respect, awe
and wonder
In the chart below are three images Wordsworth uses as specific examples of the “majesty” nature
provides. Read through the poem and find examples and write down a quote for each of these images
(hint: use the image icons to help you). After this, consider which one particular majestic quality each
image of nature gives.
Image Quote Specific majestic quality
Heaven
Air
Water
Tranquillity
Thinking about how urban life is portrayed
While on the surface ‘Composed upon Westminster Bridge, September 3, 1802’ focuses just on the
beauty and magnificence of nature, it also implies that urban life is the opposite. Look at the table
below and infer what each of the quotes on the left-hand side shows us about life in the city.
What the poem says Inference
The city wears a “garment” which makes
it appear beautiful on the outside, which
suggests that on the inside, it is…
The city is now “smokeless” and the buildings
“bright” which suggests they are usually…
The city is now “silent” and the houses
“asleep” which suggests that they are usually…
Preview

Writing activity
Since this is this first poem you’ve studied, let’s try just practising some basic analytic writing proce-
dures. Below are words and phrases you can use to analyse the poem at three levels: the whole of the
poem, parts of the poem and individual techniques. The model sentences at the start of each section
will give you an example of how to analyse the poem. Pay attention to how the examples use quotes.
When constructing your sentences, look back through the poem and consider what word or phrase
you might quote in your sentence to aid your analysis.
Writing about the poem as a whole:
In ‘Composed upon Westminster Bridge, September 3, 1802’, Wordsworth lauds the “majesty” of
nature.
In ‘Composed upon Westminster Bridge,
September 3, 1802’, Wordsworth…
celebrates the…of nature…
celebrates nature as…
praises the power of nature as…
describes how nature can…
contrasts the…of nature to…of urban life.
Writing about the ideas:
In the octet of the poem, the poet focuses on how nature touches the “soul” because of its “fair”
beauty.
In the octet of the poem, the poet…
…highlights
…emphasises
…focuses on
…reflects on
the way nature can…
that nature is…
the capacity for nature to…
Throughout the poem, the poet…
At the turning point of the poem, the poet…
develops a picture of nature as…
praises individual elements of nature such as…
and…
highlights how nature can…and suggests that,
by contrast, urban life is…
In his sestet, the poet…
The poet closes the poem…
by emphasising…
with the conclusion that…
and emphasises that idea that…
Preview

20
Writing about the images
When the poet describes the river as gliding “at his own sweet will”, he uses the image of freely moving
water to create the sense that nature is a place of liberty.
The poet uses the image of…
When the poet describes…as…, he uses
the image of…
to…
to create the sense that…
to invoke a picture of…
to emphasise a feeling that…
to build an association with…
Through the image of…embedded in the
words…, the poet…
By using the imagery of…to describe…as,
the poet
invokes a sense of…
create a sense of…
builds a picture of…
Preview

Notes:
Preview

22
behold: see
bound: to be tied to
something
piety: a strong religious
belief about the right way to
behave
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 the father of the Man;
And I could wish my days to be
Bound each to each by natural piety.
In this poem, Wordsworth sets out his belief that as we grow old, we should maintain a
childish, innocent joy in nature and life. Now, you’ve already read one other Wordsworth
poem, so as you read this one consider:
• How the idea of nature as being innocent connects to nature in ‘Composed upon
Westminster Bridge, September 3, 1802’
• How the use of sky imagery also connects to that poem
THE HEADLINE:
Man really likes rainbows
Preview

Poem analysis:
Ideas Techniques
The first six lines are almost a series of
couplets, of a thought that is begun in one line
and finished in the next. However, these are
not traditional couplets that rhyme, but are
a new kind of spontaneous couplet that is as
unexpected as the nature that inspired it. The
initial couplet establishes this pattern – the
poet explains that he is filled with joy on one
line and then on the following line explains the
source of his joy.
The first couplet does not rhyme, one line is
longer than the other, so the rhythm does not
match and the reader is taken by surprise, just
as the poet was surprised by the sight of the
rainbow.
The second couplet is far more traditional, the
rhyme and the rhythm match and the reader
is lulled back into a sense of the familiar, but
straight away Wordsworth confounds us with
his third couplet: another unrhymed pair with
an irregular rhythm. The point the poet is
making is that nature is constantly new and
constantly surprising, and it is this sense of
novelty that is so delightful.
The final three lines, the last third of the
poem, read as an extended thought, a proverb
that Wordsworth is trying to create. What
Wordsworth the man wants from his inner
child is that naive sense of devotion and
worship of nature: as a child he worshipped
nature, so nature is like a religion to him.
He even begins this tercet (group of three
lines) with words that sound like a proverb:
“The Child is the father of the Man”, using
words that are both simple and familiar, but
giving them a new meaning – twisting what we
would expect. Readers are familiar with the
idea of a man being a father, but here it is the
child who is the father.
The big idea
Nature regularly surprises and delights us with new things to see: like rainbows. Wordsworth is
so inspired by these unexpected gifts that he is filled with a childish joyfulness that bursts out of
him in a rush and finds expression in his poetry.
Preview

24
NOW IT'S YOUR TURNNOW IT'S YOUR TURN
Thinking activity
Below is the poem rearranged into its rhyming lines. Looking at these lines, there are two things you
can think about:
1. What idea do the rhymes emphasise?
2. What is the impact of the line length?
Look through the lines and make some notes about what you notice:
What do you notice
about the line length?
What idea does
the rhyme seem
to emphasise?
So be it when I shall grow old,
A rainbow in the sky:
Or let me die!
So was it when my life began;
So is it now I am a man;
The Child is the father of the Man;
And I could wish my days to be
Bound each to each by natural piety.
Think about how you might use this vocabulary to help you discuss line length or rhyme:
brief / brevity: the quality of being short or brief
abrupt / abruptness: suddenness
blunt / bluntness: saying exactly what you think without being polite
sparse / sparseness: having a small amount of something
cut short: like something else was going to be said or happen
the connection of
the rhyme of
relation of
emphasises
highlights
amplifies
dramatises
underscores
connects
reinforces
binds
joins together
closely links
Preview

Writing activity
A good analysis of Wordsworth will compare and link poems. So now you’ve studied two poems, you
can begin to practise linking poems in your writing.
Compare how nature is presented in the two poems:
While the general celebration of nature links ‘Composed upon Westminster Bridge’ and ‘My heart
leaps up when I behold’, each poem focuses on a different attribute of nature:
• The beauty and majesty of nature
• The playful innocence of nature
Read through this example sentence and use the phrases and words in the table below to compare the
two poems:
In both ‘Composed upon Westminster Bridge’ and ‘My heart leaps up when I behold’, Wordsworth
portrays the glory of nature. However, unlike ‘Westminster Bridge’, where nature is “beauty”, in ‘My
heart leaps up’, the essence of nature is innocent like a “child”.
In both ‘Composed upon Westminster
Bridge’ and ‘My heart leaps up when I behold’,
Wordsworth…
celebrates nature as…
lauds the…of nature.
depicts nature as…
praises the…of nature.
However, while the central focus on
‘Westminster Bridge’ is on nature’s…,
Yet, while the chief focus in ‘Westminster
Bridge’ is on the…of nature,
‘My heart leaps up when I behold’ instead
emphasises…
the focus of ‘My heart leaps up when I behold’
is on…
Compare the techniques used in the two poems:
In both ‘Composed upon Westminster Bridge’ and ‘My heart leaps up when I behold’, Wordsworth
uses sky imagery to depict the boundless freedom of nature. In ‘Westminster Bridge’, the sky is a
space which is “open” to the beauty of the city, while in ‘My Heart Leaps’, the poet’s innocence
“leaps” into the beauty of the sky.
In both ‘Composed upon Westminster
Bridge’ and ‘My heart leaps up when I behold’,
Wordsworth uses sky imagery to
show that nature is…
to illustrate the…of nature.
to represent how nature can…
In ‘Westminster Bridge’, the sky is depicted as
being…
Wordsworth creates a picture of the sky…in
‘Westminster Bridge’
while in ‘My heart leaps’, the image of the sky
represents…
but uses the same imagery in ‘My heart leaps’
to…
Preview

26
In this poem, nature is powerful and impressive, just like ancient Greek gods, but
modern humans are petty and only interested in buying stuff. As you read this poem,
think about:
• the negatives of consumerism
• how nature is powerful
The world is too much with us
The world is too much with us; late and soon,
Getting and spending, we lay waste our powers;—
Little we see in Nature that is ours;
We have given our hearts away, a sordid boon!
This Sea that bares her bosom to the moon;
The winds that will be howling at all hours,
And are up-gathered now like sleeping flowers;
For this, for everything, we are out of tune;
It moves us not. Great God! I’d rather be
A Pagan suckled in a creed outworn;
So might I, standing on this pleasant lea,
Have glimpses that would make me less forlorn;
Have sight of Proteus rising from the sea;
Or hear old Triton blow his wreathèd horn.
sordid: dirty or immoral
boon: something that makes
life easier
bares: uncovers
suckled: sucked milk from a
breast
creed: a set of beliefs
lea: a meadow
forlorn: feeling alone and
unhappy
Proteus: A Greek god of the
changing sea
Triton: A Greek god of the sea
and a messenger
wreathed: wrapped in flowers
or plants
THE HEADLINE:
Materialism boring, nature awesome
Preview

Poem analysis:
This poem is another sonnet, which means it has fourteen lines that explore two different ideas. The
octet focuses upon how wrong society is, while the sestet looks at the alternative – how we could live
more harmoniously with nature.
Ideas Techniques
Octet
The octet of this poem is divided into two
quartets: the first quartet describes the
pettiness of human lives and the pointless
consumerism that people engage in, while
the second quartet juxtaposes the power and
rage of the ocean with the gentle stillness it
has at other times. Wordsworth focuses the
reader’s attention on how materialistic and
worldly people are by stopping our thoughts
with the caesuras that are in three of the first
four lines: each of these lines is stopped after
describing how out-of-touch humans are with
their natural environment. By stopping the
flow of the rhythm after telling his audience
that “The world is too much with us” or “We
have given our hearts away”, Wordsworth
forces us to focus upon the impact our
decisions have upon our lives. However, the
poet also highlights the varied emotions and
power of nature by illustrating both the power
of the ocean and the peace that it can bring –
it can be a howling and powerful force and it
can also be peaceful like a sleeping flower.
In the first quartet, the poet highlights the
triviality of most people’s concerns with the
short vowel sounds that fussy ‘t’ sounds in
“getting and spending” and “little”; these
sounds contrast with the booming round
sounds of ‘oon’ and ‘ours’ that finish each line.
Throughout the octet, Wordsworth repeats
and inverts his rhyming sequence from ABBA
to BAAB, so that the sounds of ‘oon’ and
‘ours’ repeats as regularly as the waves of the
ocean, booming with power. The muscularity
and strength of the ocean is also emphasised
by the pushing repetition of the ‘b’ sound in
the line “The Sea that bares her bosom” and
the onomatopoeia of “howling at all hours”:
rather than the ocean being a peaceful place,
it is strong and loud.
The big idea
Most of us have forgotten to look at the power and beauty of nature. Instead of looking at how
impressive nature is, we focus on consumerism (“getting and spending”) and this means that we
are out of touch with the world around us. Instead, we’d be better off if we were like the ancient
pagans who worshipped nature gods because they recognised how awesome nature is.
Preview

28
NOW IT'S YOUR TURN
Ideas Techniques
Sestet
In the sestet, Wordsworth focuses upon
exhorting people to be more pagan in their
attitudes so that they can better appreciate
the majesty and power of the natural world.
To emphasise the intuitive quality of pagan
religions, he imagines being “suckled by a
creed outworn”, of being nourished and fed
by the idea of a nature-worshipping religion.
This type of devotion would also give the
poet something that is worthwhile, rather
than the worldly goods other people strive
for – he repeats the word ‘have’ in two lines,
establishing the idea that a sense of awe is the
most valuable possession.
The two caesuras in line nine (the volta, or
turning point of a sonnet) force the reader
to pause twice and consider the contrasting
ideas the poet is putting forth. Throughout
the entire sestet, the breezy sound of ‘ee’
echoes – both within the lines and at the end
of them, linking the ideas with the sense of
ease they bring him.
By conjuring classical Greek gods, the poet
demonstrates how ancient and enduring the
natural world is, and how far human society
has moved from a tradition of awe.
Thinking about the poem:
Throughout this poem, Wordsworth contrasts consumeristic disconnection to nature with a more
primal, pagan connection to nature. In the table below, quotes demonstrating two ideas have been
arranged in groups. Read through them and brainstorm words that will help you label or discuss the
ideas in each of these quotes.
Consumeristic disconnection
from nature
Pagan connection to nature
Getting and spending
waste our powers
Little we see in Nature
We have given our hearts away
sordid boon
we are out of tune
suckled in a creed
standing on this pleasant lea
hear old Triton blow his wreathèd horn
Words or phrases to analyse what
disconnection from nature is like:
Words or phrases to analyse what pagan
connection to nature is like:
Preview

In addition to contrasting the disconnection of consumerism with the connection of a pagan rever-
ence for nature, Wordsworth explores how nature is both powerful and dramatic as well as tranquil.
Look at the descriptions and images Wordsworth uses below and sort them into two categories: ones
that show nature is powerful and dramatic and ones that show nature is tranquil:
“bares…bosom to the moon”
“winds…howling”
“up gathered…like sleeping flowers”
“pleasant lea”
Proteus: A son of the Greek sea god Poseidon,
Proteus was god of the changing sea. The word
‘protean’ which means ‘changeable’ comes from
Proteus.
Triton: Also a son of the Greek sea god
Poseidon, Triton is often imagined as a merman.
In mythology, he would rise from the sea and
blow a seashell like a trumpet. The noise he
would make was so loud it would frighten giants.
Writing about the poem:
When you are writing about a sonnet, you really want to be able to discuss the two sides to an idea that
the poem shows you. So, you might want to think about writing a sentence that is something like this:
On the one hand, Wordsworth decries the “sordid” reality of conventional lives which are domi-
nated by consumption and spending, while on the other, he praises the “creed” of paganism that
turns its back on this way of living and reveres nature.
In order to write a sentence like this, you need to be able to compare two different ideas. Use the words
and phrases in the table below to create your own sentence that compares the two different ideas in
this sonnet.
On the one hand analytical verb , while on the other analytical verb
In the octet…
Although
While…
criticises
censures
denounces
condemns
decries
, but in the sestet
, he then
, he later
exalts
lauds
pays tribute
acclaims
extols the virtues of
glorifies
Nature is tranquil
Nature is powerful
and energetic
Preview

30
In this poem, Wordsworth celebrates the romantic sound of the cuckoo (yes, the bird
of cuckoo clock fame). You might like to google ‘cuckoo’ sound before you read this
poem, so you’ll know what all the fuss is about.
THE HEADLINE:
Cuckoo sound would make awesome ringtone
blithe: cheerful and carefree
rejoice: celebrate
twofold: double
Vale: valley
Thrice: three times
rove: wander about
To the cuckoo
O blithe New-comer! I have heard,
I hear thee and rejoice.
O Cuckoo! shall I call thee Bird,
Or but a wandering Voice?
While I am lying on the grass
Thy twofold shout I hear;
From hill to hill it seems to pass,
At once far off, and near.
Though babbling only to the Vale
Of sunshine and of flowers,
Thou bringest unto me a tale
Of visionary hours.
Thrice welcome, darling of the Spring!
Even yet thou art to me
No bird, but an invisible thing,
A voice, a mystery;
The same whom in my school-boy days
I listened to; that Cry
Which made me look a thousand ways
In bush, and tree, and sky.
To seek thee did I often rove
Through woods and on the green;
And thou wert still a hope, a love;
Still longed for, never seen.
Preview

beget: create
unsubstantial: not concrete
or can’t be touched
faery: fairy
The big idea
This poem is an ode, a type of poem that celebrates how super something is, and Wordsworth is
praising the cuckoo here.
And I can listen to thee yet;
Can lie upon the plain
And listen, till I do beget
That golden time again.
O blessèd Bird! the earth we pace
Again appears to be
An unsubstantial, faery place;
That is fit home for Thee!
Poem analysis:
The ode is divided into eight stanzas with alternating rhyme sequence, so that the reader can hear
echoes of sound throughout the poem and these echoes evoke the two-toned note of the cuckoo’s
call. In each of the stanzas, the first and third lines are longer in rhythm while the second and fourth
lines are shorter, creating a space of silence after each thought, much like the end of the cuckoo’s
two-note call creates a space in the soundscape.
Ideas Techniques
In the opening two stanzas of the poem,
Wordsworth establishes the nature of the
cuckoo’s call: it is a sound to be celebrated,
but it is also elusive, because the poet cannot
see the bird that makes the sound, but only
hears the “wandering voice”. The poet is firmly
established in the present, listening from
where he lies on the grass for the two-toned
bird call that echoes (just as the poet’s own
rhymes do) throughout the landscape.
In these two opening stanzas, words such as
“hill” are repeated, as is “heard” and “hear”,
almost as though the poet is mimicking the
reiterative notes of the cuckoo.
Preview

32
Ideas Techniques
The poet delves further into his imagination
in the third and fourth stanzas, connecting
the sound of the cuckoo with the sound of
time; just as the wooden cuckoo can keep time
within a cuckoo clock, this real bird can bring
the sense of “visionary hours” to Wordsworth.
The poet also imagines that the bird is singing
romantically of “sunshine and flowers”,
creating a sense of shared joy in beauty
between the two of them.
In the fourth stanza, the connection to time
is strengthened as the poet refers to “thrice”,
which follows his reference to “twofold” from
earlier in the poem – it is as though this real
cuckoo is marking time, just as the wooden
birds in a clock do. And so here the bird is
representative of the elusive nature of time,
“an invisible thing” that marks our lives. Time
is also made more concrete because the poet
points out that the cuckoo is a herald of spring
and so, in its own way, does actually mark time
– it’s just that the real cuckoo calls out the
passing of seasons, not hours.
In the fifth and sixth stanzas, the poet moves
backwards through memories to when he
was a “schoolboy” and here he conjures the
searching and yearning that are so much a part
of childhood. In these stanzas, the boy poet
“look[s] a thousand ways” and “longed for”
things he cannot see.
He emphasises this stilted searching in the
final line of the fifth stanza, with its two
caesuras that highlight the multiple directions
of his childish gaze. It is as though the cuckoo
represents all of his youthful hopes and dreams
and all of the discoveries of adulthood that lie
ahead of him.
In closing his poem, Wordsworth refers to the
future, to the pleasure that will come to him
when he listens to the cuckoo again. And here
in this future are evocations of the past: “that
golden time”, since the future is made even
more pleasurable with references to the past.
However, the future is unknowable,
“unsubstantial, faery”, just as the cuckoo’s
voice is. Because the cuckoo can represent the
past, the present, the spring, the future and
time itself, it is an object of wonder and awe
for Wordsworth and he articulates all of these
feelings in this ode.
Preview

NOW IT'S YOUR TURN
Thinking and reading activity:
In this poem, the cuckoo’s voice represents the real, concrete beauty of nature, but its invisibility (that
is, how difficult it can be to actually see a cuckoo), symbolises things which are intangible: memories,
love, hope – and the spiritual, supernatural power of nature. There are three different points in time
that Wordsworth writes about in this poem: now, childhood and the future. Using the table below to
guide your thinking, look through the poem and identify quotes that show what the cuckoo’s voice
actually sounds like at any of these times, and what feelings or ideas it represents or makes the poet
think of at any of these times.
The cuckoo’s voice is… The invisibility of the cuckoo makes
the poet think…
The romantic quality of the cuckoo
makes the poet think…
Now
As a child
In the future
Preview

34
Writing activity:
One of the analytic writing skills you’ll need for your essays on Wordsworth is to insert and inter-
pret single or multiple quotes in a sentence. Below are models of how to do this and some quotes to
practise with.
Analysing one quote on its own
When inserting a single quote into a sentence, you’ll need an introductory phrase, a quote and an
analytic verb like this:
Introductory phrase Quote Analytic verb
Wordsworth describes how,
in search of the cuckoo call,
he would
“rove” , creating a sense of the
cuckoo’s call as inviting
exploration and adventure.
Use the phrases and quotes in the table below to practise inserting and analysing single quotes in a
sentence:
Introductory phrase Quote Analytic verb
Wordsworth describes…as…
Wordsworth labels…as…
Wordsworth likens the
cuckoo’s call to…
“sunshine and of flowers”
“that golden time again”
“an unsubstantial, faery
place”
creating a picture of…
evoking a sense of…
illustrating…
representing…
Preview

Analysing two quotes together
To insert and analyse two quotes in a sentence, you’ll need the same basic structure with the addition
of some connecting words to join together two or more quotes:
Introductory phrase Quote + connecting words Analytic verb
Wordsworth characterises
the cuckoo’s sound
as “wandering”, “far off” but
also “near”
, creating a sense of the
bird as like something
supernatural, like a ghost.
Use the phrases and quotes in the table below to practise inserting and analysing multiple quotes in a
sentence:
Introductory phrase Quote Connecting words
Wordsworth characterises…as…
Wordsworth paints the…as…
Wordsworth likens the cuckoo’s
call to…
Wordsworth describes how on
hearing the cuckoo’s voice he
will…
“blithe”
“babbling”
“rejoice”
“welcome”
“an invisible thing”
“a mystery”
“never seen”
and
as well as
and also
as both…and
as not just…but
also
Preview

36
secluded: isolated
and lonely
repose: rest or sleep
tufts: clumps or groups
clad: covered
copses: small group of trees
growing close together
sportive: playful
pastoral: rural
wreaths: rings
vagrant: homeless person
Hermit: person who chooses
to live on their own and away
from others
Lines composed a few miles above Tintern Abbey
Five years have past; five summers, with the length
Of five long winters! and again I hear
These waters, rolling from their mountain-springs
With a soft inland murmur.—Once again
Do I behold these steep and lofty cliffs,
That on a wild secluded scene impress
Thoughts of more deep seclusion; and connect
The landscape with the quiet of the sky.
The day is come when I again repose
Here, under this dark sycamore, and view
These plots of cottage-ground, these orchard-tufts,
Which at this season, with their unripe fruits,
Are clad in one green hue, and lose themselves
‘Mid groves and copses. Once again I see
These hedge-rows, hardly hedge-rows, little lines
Of sportive wood run wild: these pastoral farms,
Green to the very door; and wreaths of smoke
Sent up, in silence, from among the trees!
With some uncertain notice, as might seem
Of vagrant dwellers in the houseless woods,
Or of some Hermit’s cave, where by his fire
The Hermit sits alone.
Wordsworth is revisiting a natural landscape he wandered in as a younger man and
thinking about what it meant to him years ago, what it means now and what it will
mean in the future. He also randomly talks to his sister (who he also calls his Friend)
right at the end.
This is the longest poem you’ll read and study in this collection. Because it is so long,
it’s been broken into smaller sections to help you read it more slowly and under-
stand it better. After you’ve read each section, read the analysis and then re-read the
section again before moving on.
THE HEADLINE:
A really, really long poem about the awesomeness
of nature – Part 1
Preview

Poem analysis:
Ideas Techniques
In this opening vignette, the poet is
describing a natural landscape that he used
to visit frequently as a boy. The landscape is
framed by mountains on one side and a small
collection of cottages on the other.
Although the poem has no rhyming structure,
the lines are connected by the repetition of
words and sounds: for instance, the idea of it
being a long time since the poet visited this
area is emphasised by the repetition of the
word “five” and the reiteration of “length” and
“long”.
In the rest of this opening sequence, the poet
describes the natural landscape around him,
connecting all of the elements that contribute
to the scene – the mountains, sky, trees and
flowers.
To evoke these natural elements, Wordsworth
emphasises a number of sounds. The
murmuring of water is captured by the soft
consonants that whisper:
…waters, rolling from their mountain-springs
With a soft inland murmur.
And the repeated ‘h’ in hedge-rows, hardly
hedge-rows”, mimics the predictable pattern
of the cottage gardens the poet sees below
him in the valley.
The big idea
Wordsworth is showing how classically beautiful nature can be as well as demonstrating that
nature is worthy of poetry and intellectual thinking. He emphasises this idea by writing this
lengthy lyric poem in iambic pentameter, which is a very classical and formal poetic rhythm
(or meter).
Preview

38
din: noise
restoration: returning to a
happy, calm state
sublime: something that is
wonderful and affects you
deeply
burthen: burden – a heavy
load
unintelligible: impossible to
understand
serene: calm, peaceful
corporeal: relating to the
body
vain: useless or pointless effort
fretful: worried, anxious
sylvan Wye: Wye is a river in
England. Sylvan means to do
with trees and forests.
THE HEADLINE:
These beauteous forms,
Through a long absence, have not been to me
As is a landscape to a blind man’s eye:
But oft, in lonely rooms, and ‘mid the din
Of towns and cities, I have owed to them,
In hours of weariness, sensations sweet,
Felt in the blood, and felt along the heart;
And passing even into my purer mind
With tranquil restoration:—feelings too
Of unremembered pleasure: such, perhaps,
As have no slight or trivial influence
On that best portion of a good man’s life,
His little, nameless, unremembered, acts
Of kindness and of love. Nor less, I trust,
To them I may have owed another gift,
Of aspect more sublime; that blessed mood,
In which the burthen of the mystery,
In which the heavy and the weary weight
Of all this unintelligible world,
Is lightened:—that serene and blessed mood,
In which the affections gently lead us on,—
Until, the breath of this corporeal frame
And even the motion of our human blood
Almost suspended, we are laid asleep
In body, and become a living soul:
While with an eye made quiet by the power
Of harmony, and the deep power of joy,
We see into the life of things.
If this
Be but a vain belief, yet, oh! how oft—
In darkness and amid the many shapes
Of joyless daylight; when the fretful stir
Unprofitable, and the fever of the world,
Have hung upon the beatings of my heart—
How oft, in spirit, have I turned to thee,
O sylvan Wye! thou wanderer thro’ the woods,
How often has my spirit turned to thee!
Preview

Poem analysis:
Ideas Techniques
In this section, the poet is focusing upon his
recent past, when he has not been able to
see or experience the natural beauty of this
location. He compares the activities that he
has undergone in “towns and cities”, where
each moment and act is measurable. Here,
Wordsworth considers how we measure
the worth of our lives: pleasure is “slight
or trivial”; acts of kindness and love are
“nameless, unremembered” and the world
outside of nature is “heavy” and “weary”.
All of these human acts are contrasted with
the “sublime” and “blessed” power of nature,
which is measureless and boundless. Nothing
in the poet’s life is more important than his
memories of this natural landscape. His life
is compared with illness, characterised by
“fretful” motions in a world of “fever”. Nature
is the antidote to the sickness of society and
the ‘civilised’ world.
The big idea
Nature cannot be measured, but human lives can be, and they are pointless
and small.
Preview

40
perplexity: finding
something difficult to
understand
roe: a deer
coarser: coarse means
having a rough surface.
cataract: a waterfall
THE HEADLINE:
And now, with gleams of half-extinguished thought,
With many recognitions dim and faint,
And somewhat of a sad perplexity,
The picture of the mind revives again:
While here I stand, not only with the sense
Of present pleasure, but with pleasing thoughts
That in this moment there is life and food
For future years. And so I dare to hope,
Though changed, no doubt, from what I was when first
I came among these hills; when like a roe
I bounded o’er the mountains, by the sides
Of the deep rivers, and the lonely streams,
Wherever nature led: more like a man
Flying from something that he dreads, than one
Who sought the thing he loved. For nature then
(The coarser pleasures of my boyish days
And their glad animal movements all gone by)
To me was all in all.—I cannot paint
What then I was. The sounding cataract
Haunted me like a passion: the tall rock,
The mountain, and the deep and gloomy wood,
Their colours and their forms, were then to me
An appetite; a feeling and a love,
That had no need of a remoter charm,
By thought supplied, not any interest
Unborrowed from the eye.
Preview

The big idea
Memories fade and when that happens we must return to nature to refresh and revive ourselves.
When we contemplate the beauty of nature, we become spiritual – if we do not think about
nature, we are like animals.
Poem analysis:
Ideas Techniques
This section of the poem focuses upon
the thoughts and memories of the poet:
because he has become separated from the
natural landscape, his memories are “dim and
faint” and he is confused and “perplexed”.
As a young man, he often returned to the
landscape of his youth – where he “bounded”
like a “roe” (a deer) through the landscape.
This animalistic behaviour of his youth meant
he lacked the reverence for the beauty of
nature that separates humans from animals.
The difference between the poet as a man
and the poet as a boy is reinforced by the
caesura that breaks the line “To me was all
in all.—I cannot paint”: the em dash of this
line emphasises the vast difference between
who he was and who he is now. The tired and
faded memories of the older man in the first
lines of this vignette stand in stark contrast
to the visceral and physical movements of
the younger man, but neither image is of a
contented and fulfilled man – the older man is
confused by his time in towns or cities and the
younger man does not appreciate the full and
vital beauty of nature.
Preview

42
raptures: extreme
happiness
abundant: in a large
amount
recompense: the reward
or payment for doing
something
ample: there is enough of
something
chasten: make someone
feel bad for something
they’ve done
elevated: lift up
sublime: something that is
wonderful and affects you
deeply
interfused: when
something is blended in
with other things
impels: when something
forces an action to occur
THE HEADLINE:
—That time is past,
And all its aching joys are now no more,
And all its dizzy raptures. Not for this
Faint I, nor mourn nor murmur; other gifts
Have followed; for such loss, I would believe,
Abundant recompense. For I have learned
To look on nature, not as in the hour
Of thoughtless youth; but hearing oftentimes
The still sad music of humanity,
Nor harsh nor grating, though of ample power
To chasten and subdue.—And I have felt
A presence that disturbs me with the joy
Of elevated thoughts; a sense sublime
Of something far more deeply interfused,
Whose dwelling is the light of setting suns,
And the round ocean and the living air,
And the blue sky, and in the mind of man:
A motion and a spirit, that impels
All thinking things, all objects of all thought,
And rolls through all things. Therefore am I still
A lover of the meadows and the woods
And mountains; and of all that we behold
From this green earth; of all the mighty world
Of eye, and ear,—both what they half create,
And what perceive; well pleased to recognise
In nature and the language of the sense
The anchor of my purest thoughts, the nurse,
The guide, the guardian of my heart, and soul
Of all my moral being.
Preview

The big idea
The poet is no longer a young man full of animal passions; he has become an old man who is a
lover of nature, and who has come to see nature as the ultimate moral compass.
Poem analysis:
Ideas Techniques
The first few lines of this vignette describe
youthfulness as an illness – with “aching joys”
and “dizzy raptures” – and it is clear that
the poet is thankful to have left these years
behind. He believes that the loss of youth
is more than made up for by the increased
understanding of the wonder of nature that
has come with age. To reinforce the idea that
nature is wonderful, Wordsworth describes
the sheer size and capacity of the natural
world, which encompasses “the light of
setting suns”, the oceans and the “living air”.
Most importantly, nature has a spirit that
impels “all thinking things”. Here, Wordsworth
is crediting the natural world with his intellect
and thought, linking the two together as
objects of wonder. To further this idea, he
links what the senses can perceive of the
“mighty world” with how the world inspires
and directs his mind.
He highlights two of his senses – the “eye, and
ear” – and echoes these alliterative two senses
with the alliteration of “guide, the guardian”
to emphasise how nature is as important to
who he is as his senses are. Without nature, he
feels, he could not be the man he is.
Preview

44
perchance: perhaps
genial: friendly
decay: rot
dreary: depressing
prevail: overcome, defeat
THE HEADLINE:
Nor perchance,
If I were not thus taught, should I the more
Suffer my genial spirits to decay:
For thou art with me here upon the banks
Of this fair river; thou my dearest Friend,
My dear, dear Friend; and in thy voice I catch
The language of my former heart, and read
My former pleasures in the shooting lights
Of thy wild eyes. Oh! yet a little while
May I behold in thee what I was once,
My dear, dear Sister! and this prayer I make,
Knowing that Nature never did betray
The heart that loved her; ‘tis her privilege,
Through all the years of this our life, to lead
From joy to joy: for she can so inform
The mind that is within us, so impress
With quietness and beauty, and so feed
With lofty thoughts, that neither evil tongues,
Rash judgments, nor the sneers of selfish men,
Nor greetings where no kindness is, nor all
The dreary intercourse of daily life,
Shall e’er prevail against us, or disturb
Our cheerful faith, that all which we behold
Is full of blessings.
Preview

The big idea
Wordsworth used to have fantastic chats here with his sister, Dorothy, who was a great listener.
But nature is also a great listener. And the great thing about nature is that she doesn’t care what
nasty people say, she is so far above all of that petty stuff.
Poem analysis:
Ideas Techniques
Briefly, Wordsworth begins to directly address
his absent sister Dorothy, calling her his
“dearest Friend” – an idea that is so important
to the poet he repeats it on the next line –
and his “dear, dear Sister”. He also remembers
the important conversations he had with his
sister, when he spoke “the language” of his
feelings and she responded with the kind of
wisdom that nature itself has, because of her
“wild eyes”. In fact, being back in this location
is close to having a conversation with his
beloved sister, as he feels that this scene has
been a silent witness to their relationship.
The repetition of the word “dear” reinforces
how Wordsworth cherishes his sibling, but
also how intimately close he feels towards her
when in this location.
After addressing his sister, Wordsworth
personifies the natural world in the second
half of this segment, commending the natural
world for being far above the petty thoughts
of people.
He even describes nature as inspiring “lofty
thoughts” that are far superior to the “rash
judgements” and “sneers of selfish men”, not
to mention the “dreary intercourse” that most
people have. In fact, it seems that nature, as
personified and celebrated by Wordsworth, is
a far better companion than most people are.
Preview

46
solitary: lonely
ecstasies: things to be
extremely happy about
sober: sensible, serious
exhortations: emotional
request
perchance: perhaps
hither: here
zeal: great enthusiasm
pastoral: rural
THE HEADLINE:
Therefore let the moon
Shine on thee in thy solitary walk;
And let the misty mountain-winds be free
To blow against thee: and, in after years,
When these wild ecstasies shall be matured
Into a sober pleasure; when thy mind
Shall be a mansion for all lovely forms,
Thy memory be as a dwelling-place
For all sweet sounds and harmonies; oh! then,
If solitude, or fear, or pain, or grief,
Should be thy portion, with what healing thoughts
Of tender joy wilt thou remember me,
And these my exhortations! Nor, perchance—
If I should be where I no more can hear
Thy voice, nor catch from thy wild eyes these gleams
Of past existence—wilt thou then forget
That on the banks of this delightful stream
We stood together; and that I, so long
A worshipper of Nature, hither came
Unwearied in that service: rather say
With warmer love—oh! with far deeper zeal
Of holier love. Nor wilt thou then forget,
That after many wanderings, many years
Of absence, these steep woods and lofty cliffs,
And this green pastoral landscape, were to me
More dear, both for themselves and for thy sake!
Preview

The big idea
Even though Wordsworth and his sister are taking their walks alone these
days, every time they come to this particular location, they should think
about the great times they shared with nature here.
Poem analysis:
Ideas Techniques
The poet finally moves from remembering
the past to considering the future and the
“after years” that he and his sister might
have. He invites his sister to enjoy the last,
lonely moments with nature, when the wind
might fill her with “wild ecstasies”, before
she matures into the “sober pleasure” of old
age. When she is no longer physically capable
of long walks in the wilderness, her mind
will become more important, so important
that it can be described as a “mansion” of
memories that will metaphorically support her
through “solitude, or fear, or pain, or grief”.
Fortunately for Dorothy, thoughts of the poet
will cheer her up, because she will remember
him with “tender joy”.
The extremities of her happiness at the
thought of Wordsworth are further
emphasised by the exclamation point that
forms the caesura in the following line –
this punctuation underscoring how his
encouragements or “exhortations” are
surprisingly delightful.
He finishes his poem by reassuring his sister
that this particular part of the landscape is
really only important to him because of the
memories he has of them sharing this “green
pastoral landscape” with each other.
Preview

48
NOW IT'S YOUR TURNNOW IT'S YOUR TURNNOW IT'S YOUR TURN
Thinking and Reading activity:
As he does in ‘To the cuckoo’, here Wordsworth explores what nature means to him at different points
in his life. Look at the three phases of his life below and Wordsworth’s description of what natures
means in each of these phases. In the right-hand column, write your own analysis of what this means,
and include a short quote.
Quotes This means
Before “when first
I came among these hills; when like a roe
I bounded o’er the mountains”
“The mountain, and the deep and gloomy wood,
Their colours and their forms, were then to me
An appetite; a feeling and a love,
That had no need of a remoter charm,
By thought supplied, not any interest
Unborrowed from the eye.”
As a young man, nature
was…
Now “For I have learned
To look on nature, not as in the hour
Of thoughtless youth; but…
Of elevated thoughts; a sense sublime
Of something far more deeply interfused”
In the present, nature is…
Later “While here I stand, not only with the sense
Of present pleasure, but with pleasing thoughts
That in this moment there is life and food
For future years.”
“in after years, …
Thy memory be as a dwelling-place
For all sweet sounds and harmonies”
In the future, nature will
provide…
To think about how Wordsworth explores similar and different ideas of nature in his poems, compare
what nature (in the form of a cuckoo) means to Wordsworth at each stage of his life in ‘To the cuckoo’
and ‘Lines composed a few miles above Tintern Abbey’ by noting down similarities or differences in
this chart:
Preview

‘To the cuckoo’ ‘Tintern Abbey’
As a child/young man
Now as an adult
In the future
Wordsworth uses a range of images throughout ‘Tintern Abbey’. However, the two images he returns
to most often are images of tranquillity and the heart. Using the words below, annotate the sections
of the poem that feature heart and tranquillity images. Use these sentence starters to help with your
annotations:
Tranquillity represents…
Tranquillity provides…
The heart is the emblem of…
Heart Tranquillity
Truth
Emotion
Essence
Essential
Soul
Life force
Spiritual being
Peace
Relaxation
Meaning
Focus
Calm
Harmony
Balanced
Preview

50
Writing activity:
Now you’ve studied a set of poems about the key idea of celebrating nature, you can practise writing
in more detail about the poems. Let’s have a go responding to a basic essay topic about Wordsworth:
Wordsworth’s poems demonstrate that nature provides meaning to all stages of our life.
Below is an example paragraph that responds to this essay topic by focusing on how nature provides
meaning to his childhood. The example paragraph also demonstrates some of the essential analytic
skills you need to develop in writing about Wordsworth’s poems:
• Elaborating on what ideas mean
• Inserting quotes to demonstrate ideas
• Comparing how an idea is represented in different poems
Read through the example paragraph and pay attention to how it’s been structured – you’ll write your
own paragraph following this structure:
Topic sentence In his collection of poetry, Wordsworth celebrates the energising
effect of the natural world on his mind and body as a young person.
Explanation
of terms
He believes that nature was a place of exploration and intense physical
delight for him as a child.
Quote that
demonstrates idea
In ‘Lines composed a few miles above Tintern Abbey’, the poet refers
to the delight of his “boyish days” when he exercised in the natural
landscape.
Analysis that links
to topic
In his memory, nature has created a safe space for physical exhilaration
and primal pleasures.
Image or technique
to demonstrate
idea
In fact, so intense was his boyhood experience, that when he sums
it up with “all in all”, he separates his childish self from his adult self
with a caesura break in the middle of the line. The em dash of this line
emphasises the vast difference between who he was and who he is now.
Analysis that links
to topic
Although there is a great difference between Wordsworth as a man
and who he was as a boy, at each stage of his life, this natural scene has
helped him to understand himself.
Preview

Link to other poem The boyish delight in nature Wordsworth describes in ‘Tintern Abbey’
is echoed in ‘To the Cuckoo’, where Wordsworth remembers roving
“through the woods and on the green” in his “schoolboy days”, just
to find the elusive cuckoo whose song he can hear. To underline his
connection with nature, Wordsworth describes his search for the
cuckoo as “a hope, a love”, highlighting how his childish emotions and
dreams are intrinsically linked to the natural world.
Concluding analysis
that links to topic
Wordsworth’s commemoration of these early, simple memories
underscores just how vital the landscape was to his younger self.
Now it’s time for you to write your own paragraph. Below are two topic sentences that focus on how
nature connects to other stages of life in Wordsworth’s poems.
Pick one to start a paragraph.
However, Wordsworth’s poetry demonstrates that adulthood brings a more refined, intellectual
relationship with nature.
In contrast to the immediate, primal pleasure nature offers in childhood, Wordsworth presents
nature as offering long-lasting sustenance in the future as a person ages.
Before writing your paragraph, plan what you will say. Fill in this table, starting with yourtopic sentence.
For the second row, consider what the key words in the topic sentence mean and provide more expla-
nation. After that, identify quotes and examples you can use from ‘Tintern Abbey’ and other poems.
Topic sentence
Explanation
of terms
Quote that
demonstrates idea
Analysis that links
to topic
Image or technique
to demonstrate idea
Analysis that links
to topic
Link to other poem
Concluding analysis
that links to topic
Preview

DEATH IS AN
ESSENTIAL
UNSTOPPABLE
ELEMENT OF
NATURE
Preview

54
In this poem, Wordsworth explores how sleep can shut our spirit off from the worries
of life. He repeatedly uses the pronoun ‘She’ throughout the poem and this could
refer to a particular woman or even sleep itself.
THE HEADLINE:
Sleep great cure for being awake
A slumber did my spirit seal
A slumber did my spirit seal;
I had no human fears:
She seemed a thing that could not feel
The touch of earthly years.
No motion has she now, no force;
She neither hears nor sees;
Rolled round in earth’s diurnal course,
With rocks, and stones, and trees.
slumber: sleep
seal: close, shut
diurnal: daily, cyclic
Preview

Poem analysis:
In this very simple lyric poem of two rhymed stanzas, Wordsworth draws an analogy between sleep and
death. Each stanza consists of just one sentence – a single idea that has different sub-ideas associated
with it.
Stanza 1:
Ideas Techniques
The opening stanza focuses on sleep and its
importance in our lives. In the second line,
Wordsworth describes the effect of this rest
– it removes him from the “fears” that plague
him while he is awake. Sleep is something
that removes emotions and ageing from the
human experience. As such, the reader can
see that sleep is a restorative and necessary
process, keeping us safe from the more
confronting aspects of life.
The susurration of the ’s’ sounds whispers
through the first line, creating a sense of hush
that readers would easily associate with rest:
“A slumber did my spirit seal”
The inhuman nature of sleep is further
emphasised by the rhyme that links “human
fears” with “earthly years”. However, In the
second half of this stanza, sleep is partially
personified as a woman – “She” – but she has
no other human attributes, and cannot “feel”,
much as the poet himself does not feel while
he is asleep.
Stanza 2:
Ideas Techniques
However, this separation from life reminds
Wordsworth of death and, in the second
stanza, he shifts the focus of the poem from
the disembodied concept of sleep to the
imagined death of a young woman who no
longer has “motion” or “force” and has been
removed from the sensory perception of
life. Wordsworth suggests that life and death
are an essential part of the “earth’s diurnal
course”, just as wakefulness and sleep are a
part of humans’ diurnal rhythm.
The lifelessness of the imagined young woman
is further emphasised by the heavy, stopped
rhythm of the final line that pictures other
inanimate natural elements: rocks, stones,
trees.
Preview

56
The interpretation of the poem that is provided above is only one possible interpretation of the words
you can read. Many analysts have suggested that this poem is written to ‘Lucy’ an imaginary woman
who features in other Wordsworth poems. In Wordsworth’s ‘Lucy poems’, he draws upon one of the
weirder elements of Romantic thinking: that women (or men) who die young embody perfect beauty
that will be untouched by time. Re-read the poem, this time mentally substituting the name ‘Lucy’
for the pronoun ‘she’ every time you read it. How does this change your understanding of the poem?
But what if the poem is not about Lucy at all? Wordsworth himself never explicitly said that this was a
‘Lucy poem’, so it’s possible that the critics just got this wrong in their efforts to say something clever.
What if this is just a poem about how important sleep is to the human spirit? After all, if we don’t sleep,
our brains stop working and we can become psychotic. It’s possible that Wordsworth’s poem is simply
about the natural process of sleep, and we all know how important natural processes are to this poet.
Now re-read the poem and mentally substitute the word ‘sleep’ for the pronoun ‘she’ every time you
read it. How does this change your understanding of the poem?
Which reading do you prefer?
Writing activity:
An important part of poetry analysis is to label the ideas you are discussing and analysing in a detailed
and thoughtful way. Below are two examples – a poor one and good one – that label an idea in ‘A
slumber did my spirit seal’:
Poor example In ‘A slumber did my spirit seal’, Wordsworth explores the power of sleep.
Good example
In ‘A slumber did my spirit seal’, Wordsworth explores the restorative
power of sleep.
The poor example only provides a general label for the idea of ‘power of sleep’. The key to the good
example is that it more specifically labels the idea by adding the description ‘restorative’.
Now it’s your turn.
Following the model of the above good example sentence, write two sentences that more specifically
label the power of sleep in Wordsworth’s poem:
More specific description General idea
protective
cocooning
curative
liberating
cyclical
vital
power of sleep
nature of sleep
capacity of sleep
Preview

Now let’s look at some more detailed sentences:
In ‘A slumber did my spirit seal’, Wordsworth illustrates the restorative capacity of sleep to protect
against dispiriting anxieties of life.
OR
In ‘A slumber…’, Wordsworth creates an analogy between the cyclical nature of sleep and wakeful-
ness to the everyday reality of death
It’s your turn.
Following the models above, write two sentences that specifically label and compare different ideas
in Wordsworth’s poem:
undeniability
inescapability
universality
of death
crippling
debilitating
bleak
anxieties of life
Preview

58
This is a ballad which means the poem tells a story and it’s this: as he rides his horse
to visit his lover, Wordsworth is overcome with dread that his lover might be dead…
or that she’s secretly watched the next episode of that Netflix show they both like.
THE HEADLINE:
When you stop and think about it, life’s scary because
someone you love could die
Strange fits of passion I have known
Strange fits of passion I have known:
And I will dare to tell,
But in the Lover's ear alone,
What once to me befell.
When she I loved looked every day,
Fresh as a rose in June,
I to her cottage bent my way,
Beneath the evening Moon.
Upon the Moon I fixed my eye,
All over the wide lea:
With quickening pace my horse drew nigh
Those paths so dear to me.
And now we reached the orchard plot;
And, as we climbed the hill,
The sinking moon to Lucy’s cot
Came near, and nearer still.
In one of those sweet dreams I slept,
Kind Nature's gentlest boon!
And, all the while, my eyes I kept
On the descending Moon.
My Horse moved on; hoof after hoof
He raised, and never stopped:
When down behind the cottage roof
At once the bright Moon dropped.
What fond and wayward thoughts will slide
Into a Lover's head—
“O mercy! to myself I cried,
“If Lucy should be dead!”
fit: uncontrollable emotional
outburst
befell: happened
fixed: stared at
lea: a field
quickening: getting faster;
the first feelings of a baby’s
movements inside a mother
nigh: near
boon: something that makes
life better or easier
Preview

Poem analysis:
This poem is a ballad about a man riding on horseback to meet his girlfriend and the thoughts that he
has on the way there. One of the weirdest and most disturbing thoughts is that his Lucy has died, and
it is this gloomy thought that concludes the poem.
Stanza 1:
Ideas Techniques
The opening stanza establishes the poet’s
message and presages the disturbing thoughts
that end the poem. Wordsworth is admitting
to odd and unusual emotions, but they are
the sorts of beliefs that only another person
in love could understand, so he is reluctant to
“dare to tell” anyone who is not a “Lover”.
The privacy of these thoughts and feelings
is highlighted by the rhyme of “known” and
“alone”; the poet is clearly describing some of
his most intimate “passions”.
Stanza 2:
Ideas Techniques
In the second stanza, Wordsworth describes
the object of his love in a fairly traditional
manner – she is like “a rose in June”, and we
know that she is young because he describes
her as “fresh”. He then describes how he set
off to visit her at “her cottage” one evening.
The story he is about to tell us in this ballad
is of a night “when” she was young and
beautiful, so this early description of Lucy
juxtaposes grimly with his later fears for her
death and highlights just how “strange” and
aberrant his feelings are.
The rhyme of “June” and “moon” also
underscores the contrast of Lucy’s youth
with Wordsworth’s dread of her inevitable
death. While she is like the flower of summer
(remember, June in the northern hemisphere
is in summer), he is moving through the night-
time, traditionally associated with death.
The big idea
Wordsworth explores how death is inevitable and how this realisation can strike us
and fill us with dread that those we love will die.
Preview

60
Stanza 3:
Ideas Techniques
In the third stanza, the poet describes his
journey under the light of the moon. To begin
with, he is travelling across a “wide lea” –
a field that is expansive and open, but as
he approaches the cottage, this feeling of
freedom shifts.
The third line of this stanza – “With quickening
pace my horse drew nigh” – includes an extra
ninth syllable rather than the usual eight. This
irregular length represents the “quickening”
change of pace of the horse and the change in
mood of the poem.
Stanza 4:
Ideas Techniques
He moves into an orchard in the fourth stanza,
where the trees must crowd him overhead,
and he and his horse begin to exert themselves
as they climb “the hill”. Here, in this confined
space, as he and his horse begin to feel the
effort of their journey, the moon, which earlier
served as a guide seems to be “sinking”. And
not only is the moon getting lower but, to
the tired poet’s eyes, it appears to be getting
“near, and nearer” to his beloved Lucy’s house.
The repetition of “near” and “nearer”
underscores the relentless cycle of life and
creates an ominous and foreboding sense of
the future.
Stanza 5:
Ideas Techniques
The fifth stanza begins to describe the
thoughts of the poet: “In one” of the thoughts
that cross his mind, he is home asleep and
resting – a very appealing thought to the tired
man. But even as this thought crosses his mind,
the poet keeps his eye on “the descending
moon”, focused upon finishing his journey and
visiting his Lucy.
The universal appeal of sleep for the weary is
ironically underscored with the exclamation
point after “gentlest boon!” Every reader of
this poem can relate to the idea that sleep
feels like a gift when people are tired.
Preview

Stanza 6:
Ideas Techniques
Fortunately for the poet, the horse is
continuing the journey for him in the sixth
stanza – the steady movements of the horse
are soothing and repetitive and echoed
in “hoof after hoof”. But while the horse
is constant, the moon that has guided the
journey up until now has “dropped” behind the
cottage and the poet is plunged into literal
and metaphorical darkness.
The three caesuras in this stanza further
accentuate the break between the calm
and lover-like thoughts that have thus
far dominated the poem and presage his
increasingly disordered thoughts.
Stanza 6:
Ideas Techniques
Fortunately for the poet, the horse is
continuing the journey for him in the sixth
stanza – the steady movements of the horse
are soothing and repetitive and echoed
in “hoof after hoof”. But while the horse
is constant, the moon that has guided the
journey up until now has “dropped” behind the
cottage and the poet is plunged into literal
and metaphorical darkness.
The three caesuras in this stanza further
accentuate the break between the calm
and lover-like thoughts that have thus
far dominated the poem and presage his
increasingly disordered thoughts.
Stanza 7:
Ideas Techniques
Without the light of the moon, “wayward
thoughts” come into the poet’s mind. The
unexpected and grim conclusion to the poet’s
journey – that Lucy could be “dead” – is both
poignant and serious; while love is an emotion
that brings many positive feelings that are
celebrated, it also ushers in the fear of loss
and there is no greater fear than of losing one
you love.
The absurdity of Wordsworth’s thoughts is
accentuated by the many exclamation points
in this final stanza, but the final word of the
poem is serious and final – “dead”.
Preview

62
NOW IT'S YOUR TURN
In this poem, Wordsworth uses repetition to illustrate the inevitability of death. By repeatedly refer-
ring to certain images, Wordsworth create a strong sense that death cannot be escaped and occurs
again and again, just like the reiterated images do.
Look through the poem, identify the following repeated images and use the questions to guide your
thinking about the impact this repetition creates:
1. Highlight in one colour all the lines that refer to the moon.
• Where in each stanza are the moon references? What feeling does the placement of these
references emphasise?
• What type of action is the moon doing in many of these lines? What feeling about death does
this word reinforce?
2. Highlight in a different colour all the lines that refer to or describe the horse and how it walks.
• Which of these words describes the motion of both the horse and the moon:
inexorable a process which cannot be prevented from continuing
waning decreasing gradually in size, strength or power
diminishing reducing in size, importance or intensity
inescapable something you cannot prevent yourself being impacted by
dogged determined and stubborn
• How does the walk of the horse symbolise life and death?
Writing activity:
As well as writing about the images in Wordsworth’s poems, you could also write about how the form
of a poem contributes to our understanding of the ideas and themes it presents. In this case, the form
of the poem is a ballad. Here are the conventions of ballads:
• They tell a story – often about love
• They are divided into stanzas of four lines (called quatrains)
• Each stanza follows an ABAB rhyme scheme
• The lines of each stanza usually contain four stresses; in the case of this poem, the lines
alternate between a rhythm of four stresses and three stresses like in the example on the
next page:
Preview

Strange fits of pa ssion I have known
da dum da dum da dum da dum
And I will dare to tell
da dum da dum da dum
These conventions make the ballad form predictable and formulaic. Wordsworth uses the predictabil-
ity of the form in ‘Strange fits of passion have I known’ to highlight the inevitability and universality
of the fear of death. Here’s an example of what it would look like to link the poetic form to an idea in
an analysis:
The regular and alternating rhyming sequence of this ballad underscores the cyclical nature of life,
illustrating that there are both moments brimming with energy and enthusiasm and times of grief,
fear and sadness.
Using the words and phrases in the table below, construct your own sentences analysing how the form
of the ballad is used to emphasise an idea in Wordsworth’s ‘Strange fits of passion have I known’.
The regular and
alternating rhyming
sequence of this ballad
underscores the cyclical nature
of life
, illustrating that there
are both moments
brimming with energy
and enthusiasm and
times of grief, fear and
sadness.
The familiar structure
of the ballad
The repetitive rhyme
of the ballad
The predictable rhythm
of the ballad
The certain and fixed
character of the
ballad’s rhythm
represents
mirrors
echoes
reflects
parallels
the certain nature of
death
the inevitable
pattern of life and
death
the unalterable
cycle of life
, representing…
, depicting…
, portraying…
Preview

64
This poem is a sonnet, which means it discusses two ideas. In the first eight lines,
Wordsworth describes the grief of momentarily forgetting then remembering his
lover has died. The last six lines compare this momentary lapse to the initial grief he
experienced when she first died.
THE HEADLINE:
Man has awesome story to tell lover, but remembers
she’s dead
Surprised by joy—impatient as the Wind
I turned to share the transport—Oh! with whom
But Thee, deep buried in the silent Tomb,
That spot which no vicissitude can find?
Love, faithful love, recalled thee to my mind—
But how could I forget thee? Through what power,
Even for the least division of an hour,
Have I been so beguiled as to be blind
To my most grievous loss!—That thought’s return
Was the worst pang that sorrow ever bore,
Save one, one only, when I stood forlorn,
Knowing my heart’s best treasure was no more;
That neither present time, nor years unborn
Could to my sight that heavenly face restore.
vicissitude: the fluctuation
of good and bad things
happening
beguiled: be attracted to
something
bore: carried
forlorn: feeling alone and
unhappy
Preview

Poem analysis:
In this sonnet, Wordsworth explores how simple and distinct moments in our present create echoes
with the past and with the future, so that the present is never only one moment, but is a mix of our
memories and our hope and fears for the future.
Quatrain 1
Ideas Techniques
In the first quatrain, Wordsworth describes
having a feeling of intense joy then turning “to
share” these emotions with someone else only
to remember that this person has died. His
wild joy is compared with a personified Wind,
who is “impatient”, which emphasises how
natural and wild the poet’s joy is.
Wordsworth’s fresh and blustery joy is further
epitomised by the rushing ’s’ sounds of “share
the transport” in the following line. However,
this present moment experienced by the poet
is broken with a caesura as he remembers that
the person “with whom” he wants to share
this moment is no longer alive. The rhyme of
“whom” and “tomb” underscores this personal
connection with death. The final line of this
quatrain fails to rhyme completely with the
first line – “wind” and “find” assonate, rather
than rhyme – and this mismatch echoes the
way the poet’s emotion of joy feels out of step
with his reality.
The big idea
Although it sounds strange, sometimes you can forget that a person you loved has died, espe-
cially when you’re having a really happy moment. It’s only when you stop and think of telling that
person that you remember that sharing your thoughts with them will be impossible. So, then your
feeling of joy is mingled with grief, creating a weird happy-sad feeling.
Preview

66
Quatrain 1
Ideas Techniques
The second quatrain is addressed entirely to
the object of the poet’s love and the depth
of feelings Wordsworth has for this person is
emphasised by the repetition of “Love, faithful
love”. Here, he also asks himself how he could
ever have forgotten this person “Even for the
least division of an hour”, emphasising that it
would have had to be some strange “power”
that would have made him forget.
As he berates himself for this temporary lapse
of memory, Wordsworth repeats a “b” sound
– “Have I been so beguiled as to be blind” – as
though he is poetically beating himself.
sestet
Ideas Techniques
In his octet, the poet thinks that remembering
the fact of this person’s death is “the worst
pang” of sadness – except for that moment
in the past when he first knew they had died.
And, in this moment when he remembers that
desolate past, he also remembers the fears
he had of the future when, in “years unborn”,
he would be unable to see his love. So, here
in the sestet of the poem, there are echoes
of the past which contain forethoughts of the
future: within any given moment in our lives,
the past and the future are an integral part of
the present.
The assonance between “return” and “forlorn”
highlights the loneliness of the word “forlorn”
– almost as though the word itself is alone
because it has no rhyme; a solitariness further
accentuated by the repetition of “one, one
only” in line eleven.
Preview

NOW IT'S YOUR TURN
One of Wordsworth’s poetic techniques that has been pointed out many times so far is the caesura.
The word caesura comes from an old word meaning ‘to cut’. In a poem, a caesura is any break or pause
within a line, as opposed to at the end of the line. Wordsworth uses full stops, exclamation marks,
dashes, commas and semicolons in the middle of lines to create breaks with caesuras. Depending on
the punctuation mark he uses, the caesuras create different effects. The chart below describes the
general effect of the different punctuation Wordsworth uses for caesuras in ‘Surprised by joy’, and lists
more specific vocabulary you can use to analyse its effect:
Punctuation mark Vocabulary to analyse effect
Dashes can illustrate a sense of distance or of
things being separate
jarring, clashing, grating, contrasting,
removes, sudden, shifts
Exclamation marks emphasise the emotion
that underscores a line
emphatic, resounding, forceful, underpins,
striking, underlines
Question marks illustrate uncertainty and
self-doubt inherent in a life
bewilderment, disorientation, confusion,
perplexity, tumult
Commas add further description to an idea,
stopping the reader mid-line to reinvestigate
the idea or image
repeated, rethinking, emphasising
To think about the caesuras Wordsworth uses in ‘Surprised by joy’, follow these steps:
1. Read through the poem again and highlight all the caesuras. Remember, you’re looking for
dashes, exclamation marks, question marks and commas within a line.
2. For each caesura, write an annotation in the space provided next to the poem reflecting on its
impact. Use the words from the chart above to help you think about the effect each caesura
achieves. Here’s an example:
Emphasises the break between his thoughts and
his actions
His moment of realisation is striking and
punctuated by two caesuras
I turned to share the transport—Oh! with
whom
Preview

68
Writing activity:
Now you’ve thought about caesuras, it’s time to practise writing about them. Below is an example
sentence analysing the caesura in this line:
“Love, faithful love, recalled thee to my mind—”
When Wordsworth separates “faithful love” from the rest of the line with two caesuras, he empha-
sises the primary importance of love in this relationship and creates the mental space for his reader
to consider the power of love.
Following the model above, analyse the effect of the caesura in this line. Use the words in the chart
below to help you:
“Save one, one only, when I stood forlorn”
When Wordsworth…, he…
separates
isolated
detaches
removes
emphasises
accentuates
underlines
highlights
Let’s look at a different way of analysing a caesura:
“But Thee, long buried in the silent Tomb”
By splitting “thee” and “long buried” with a caesura, Wordsworth both emphasises his lover is dead
and creates a sense of her being severed from the living world.
Following the model above, analyse the effect of the caesura in this line. Use the words in the chart
below to help you:
“That neither present time, nor years unborn”
By…. Wordsworth both… and…
splitting
separating
divorcing
cleaving
emphasises
accentuates
underlines
highlights
creates
reveals
illustrates
symbolises
Preview

Notes:
Preview

Selected Wordsworth Poems: How to read them, understand them and write truly insightful analyses on them

Selected Wordsworth Poems: How to read them, understand them and write truly insightful analyses on them

Recommended

Recommended

More Related Content

What's hot

What's hot (20)

Similar to Selected Wordsworth Poems: How to read them, understand them and write truly insightful analyses on them

Similar to Selected Wordsworth Poems: How to read them, understand them and write truly insightful analyses on them (20)

More from jpinnuck

More from jpinnuck (20)

Recently uploaded

Recently uploaded (20)

Selected Wordsworth Poems: How to read them, understand them and write truly insightful analyses on them