Can anyone help me figure out what this poem is about?

Thanks,
Carrie

Let's take a look at the poem:

William Wordsworth

MY HEART LEAPS UP WHEN I BEHOLD -

MY heart leaps up when I behold

A rainbow in the sky:

So was it when my life began;

So is it now I am a man:

So be it when I shall grow old,

Or let me die!

The child is father of the man;

And I could wish my days to be

Bound each to each by natural piety. - -


This is basically an ode to nature. He is saying that what we think as children, exemplified by his love of rainbows, determines how we think as adults. His hope would be to love nature as a work of God.

Les

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Les

       Help me to analyze this poem please <br />
      I have exam on Tuesday <br />

Thanks

      please help me to analyze my heart leaps up <br />
     <br />
     i have exam on Tuesday

Nine lines which flow charmingly and appear profound, but which embody ideas that are simple - some might even say too simple.

Any paraphrase or explanation is bound to appear inelegant and wordy by comparison.

The most famous line in the poem, 'The child is father of the man', means that just as a boy may inherit his father's characteristics, so too does a growing man have the potential to retain and develop the characteristics he showed as a child. The particular characteristic that Wordsworth focuses on in the poem is 'natural piety'.

I don't read 'natural' as referring to 'Nature'. I think it means the kind of instinctive (i.e. untaught) attitude that a child has, compared with the more artificial piety that can be the product of religious instruction. Wordsworth treats a child's natural feelings of wonder, joy and awe at the sight of beautiful things as a manifestation of piety in the sense of reverence for God's creations.

The example Wordsworth gives of such natural piety is his exhilaration at the sight of a rainbow. He says that this remains as strong for him as a grown man as when he was an infant, and he wants that to continue into his old age. Otherwise he would rather die.

One could question whether, apart from introducing the expression 'natural piety', the last two lines add or even say anything meaningful. What does it really mean to say that his 'days' are 'bound each to each'? The last two lines appear to reiterate the substance of lines 5 and 6. He wants natural piety to be the continuing element that links his days together (whatever that means!).

Perhaps one could infer that he regards that kind of piety as sufficient and better than tutored religious piety, but I suspect that that would credit him with more philosophical thought than he actually put into this little poem.

Ian



Post Edited (12-26-04 16:51)

I think the strongest line in this poem is "Or let me die!" He is talking about the childlike wonder that viewing the beauty and splendor of nature can afford. He wants to hold that close to his heart all the days of his life, or life is no longer worth living. It's a very powerful statement, if you think about it.

I admit, I have not thought a great deal about the ending. I read the last lines as follows, that the one constant in his life from childhood to old age is his appreciation of god through nature ('natural piety'). Or, you could also take it as, the awe of nature keeps him young at heart ('The Child...') because his childlike reverence nurtures ('..is father of the Man') the man he has become. This joy in nature is what binds him to the child he was and that there is no clear division between childhood and adulthood ('bound each to each'). He wishes certain thoughts and emotions to span decades without changing or being lost to him.

.

According to the Bible, Genesis 9: 8-17, the rainbow is to be taken as the sign of God's covenant with all creatures on the earth. Perhaps Wordsworth meant 'natural piety' as a contrast between religious piety based on having been tutored in these scriptures and a child's inborn sense of wonder at such a spectacular sight in the heavens.