Selected Poems of William

WordsworthBy:

Christine YoonShloka Joshi

My Heart Leaps UpMy heart leaps up when I behold

    A rainbow in the sky:So was it when my life began;

So is it now I am a man;So be it when I shall grow old,

    Or let me die!The Child is father of the Man;And I could wish my days to be

Bound each to each by natural piety.

My Heart Leaps Up

My heart leaps up when I beholdA rainbow in the sky:

Wordsworth expresses his desire to be a part of the rainbow and its magnificence.

My Heart Leaps Up

So was it when my life began;So is it now I am a man;

This line insinuates that Wordsworth found life to be beautiful and still believes so to this day.

My Heart Leaps Up

So be it when I shall grow old,Or let me die!

Wordsworth claims that he would rather die than lose his wonder of the world.

My Heart Leaps Up

The Child is father of the Man;

This line suggests that the child produces the man. The man is made from childhood experiences

My Heart Leaps Up

And I could wish my days to beBound each to each by natural

piety.

Wordsworth hopes that he will always appreciate the wonders of nature throughout his life.

Type, Rhyme and Theme

• This poem is a lyrical ballad

• The rhyme scheme in this poem is A B C C A B D E

• The theme of this poem is the appreciation of nature and the idea of Romanticism

Literary Devices• Paradox- most important concept in

this poem

line 7- “The Child is father of the Man”Wordsworth is seeing nature as if he were a child again, and it makes him happy to see the natural wonders of the world, rather than the man made ones.

Symbolism• The concept of the rainbow can be

construed as hope, promises or even a fulfilled dream.

• Some cultures believe that the rainbow is a bridge to the afterlife, one for dead heroes to cross to reach paradise, or Valhalla.

• The poem as a whole is symbolic of the beauty of nature and Romanticism.

The Solitary ReaperBehold her, single in the field, Yon solitary

Highland Lass! Reaping and singing by herself; Stop here, or gently pass! Alone she cuts and binds the grain, And sings a melancholy strain; O listen! for the Vale profound Is overflowing with the sound.

No Nightingale did ever chant More welcome notes to weary bands Of travelers in some shady haunt, Among Arabian sands: A voice so thrilling ne'er was heard In spring-time from the Cuckoo-bird, Breaking the silence of the seas Among the farthest Hebrides.

The Solitary ReaperWill no one tell me what she sings?-- Perhaps

the plaintive numbers flow For old, unhappy, far-off things, And battles long ago: Or is it some more humble lay, Familiar matter of to-day? Some natural sorrow, loss, or pain, That has been, and may be again?

Whate'er the theme, the Maiden sang As if her song could have no ending; I saw her singing at her work, And o'er the sickle bending; -- I listened, motionless and still; And, as I mounted up the hill The music in my heart I bore, Long after it was heard no more.

The Solitary Reaper

Behold her, single in the field, Yon solitary Highland Lass! Reaping and singing by herself; Stop here, or gently pass!

In this line, Wordsworth is telling the audience to listen to a woman who is singing to herself. He tells us to stop or gently pass, as if not to disturb her.

The Solitary Reaper

Alone she cuts and binds the grain, And sings a melancholy strain; O listen! for the Vale profound Is overflowing with the sound.

Wordsworth illustrates the woman reaping and singing a sad song. He tells the audience how the valley is filled with the beautiful sound.

The Solitary Reaper

No Nightingale did ever chant More welcome notes to weary bands Of travelers in some shady haunt, Among Arabian sands:

The woman’s voice cannot be compared to a nightingale, who is welcoming weary travelers.

The Solitary Reaper

A voice so thrilling ne'er was heard In spring-time from the Cuckoo-bird, Breaking the silence of the seas Among the farthest Hebrides.

That even in the springtime, the Cuckoo-bird’s voice was not as thrilling as the woman’s voice.

The Solitary Reaper

Will no one tell me what she sings?-- Perhaps the plaintive numbers flow For old, unhappy, far-off things, And battles long ago

Wordsworth wonders what she might be singing about. He guesses that she is singing about old, sad things, perhaps battles.

The Solitary Reaper

Or is it some more humble lay, Familiar matter of to-day? Some natural sorrow, loss, or pain, That has been, and may be again?

The woman’s song might be of more humble things, such as things of today.

The Solitary Reaper

Whate'er the theme, the Maiden sang As if her song could have no ending; I saw her singing at her work, And o'er the sickle bending;

Whatever she might be singing about, he is captivated by the woman’s singing during her work.

The Solitary Reaper

I listened, motionless and still; And, as I mounted up the hill The music in my heart I bore, Long after it was heard no more.

Wordsworth carries the memory of her song even after he has passed her.

Anaylsis• Four eight-line stanzas• each ending with a couplet• octosyllabic lines• written in iambic tetrameter• Each stanza follows a rhyme scheme of

ABABCCDD, though in the first and last stanzas the "A" rhyme is off (field/self and sang/work).

• Idyll: lyric poetry describing the life of the shepherd in pastoral, bucolic, idealistic terms.

Analysis• the first stanza sets the scene• the second offers two bird

comparisons for the music• the third wonders about the content

of the songs• the fourth describes the effect of the

songs on the speaker