We are Seven is a poem written by William Wordsworth in 1798 and published in his Lyrical Ballads. It describes a discussion between older gentlemen who tries to question a girl about her family. The girl is unwilling to accept that two of her siblings, deceased, are no longer part of her family. The poem expresses Wordsworth's optimistic view of nature and his dissatisfaction with rationality.
We are Seven" is a beautiful poem composed by the great poet of nature, William Wordsworth
. The poem believes that children are the best specimens of purity, beauty and innocence. They believe that every object is as alive as they are. They are too young to understand the bitter difference between life and death.
The poet happened to meet an eight year old cottage girl who had curly hair
and beautiful wild eyes. The poet was fascinating by her beauty and charm. He asked the girl how many brothers and sisters they were. She replied that they were seven in all. The poet again asked where they were. She told him that two of them lived at Convay, two had become sailors at the sea and the last two lay buried in the churchyard. The poet requested her to explain how they were seven while two of them were buried in the graves.
She said that their graves were green and she often did her knitting and stitching work
by them. She added that she often took her supper there and sang to them in beautiful moonlit nights.The poet told her that if two of them were lying dead in graves then they were only five. The little girl
did not agree with the poet and claimed that they were seven. She did not accept his arguments at all insisted that they were seven.
Poem
We Are Seven
The poem is a dialogue between a narrator who serves as a questioner and a little girl, with the first stanza contributed by Coleridge. The poem relies on aspects of the ballad tradition in its use of a refrain. The poem begins with the narrator asking:
A simple child, dear brother Jim,
That lightly draws its breath,
And feels its life in every limb,
What should it know of death? (lines 1–4)
He transitions to describe how he met a pretty girl who was pleasing to him:[9]
She had a rustic, woodland air,
And she was wildly clad;
Her eyes were fair, and very fair;
—Her beauty made me glad. (lines 9–12)
However, his admiration is pushed aside as he begins to question her about her siblings:[9]
"Sisters and brothers, little Maid,
How many may you be?"
How many? Seven in all," she said,
And wondering looked at me. (lines 13–16)
He questions her further, asking where they are, and she simply responds that two are in Wales, two are at sea, and two are buried in a churchyard near her home. He is confused by her answer and asks:[9]
"Yet you are seven; I pray you tell,
"Sweet Maid, how this may be?" (lines 27–28)
She simply goes on to say:
"Seven boys and girls are we;
"Two of us in the church-yard lie,
"Beneath the church-yard tree." (lines 30–32)
He is unable to accept neither her view of death nor her continual us of "we" or "us" to describe the relationship between the living and dead children. He questions her further, trying to have her admit that there are only five but she merely responds:[10]
"Their graves are green, they may be seen,"
The little Maid replied,
"Twelve steps or more from my mother's door,"
"And they are side by side."
"My stockings there I often knit,
"My 'kerchief there I hem;
"And there upon the ground I sit—
"I sit and sing to them.
"And often after sun-set, Sir,
"When it is light and fair,
"I take my little porringer,
"And eat my supper there (lines 36–48)
She then describes how they die, which prompts the narrator to ask:
"How many are you then," said I,
"If they two are in Heaven?" (lines 61–62)
After the little girl repeats that they were seven in number, the narrator, frustrated, replies:[10]
"But they are dead: Those two are dead!
"Their spirits are in Heaven!" (lines 65–66)
The poem ends with a divide between the child and the narrator:[10]
'Twas throwing words away: For still
The little Maid would have her will,
And said, "Nay, we are seven!" (lines 67–69)
[edit] Themes
Wordsworth, in his Preface to the 1802 Lyrical Ballads, wrote that the poems exhibit a "power of real and substantial action and suffering" and, in particular to We are Seven, to express "the perplexity and obscurity which in childhood attend our notion of death, or rather our utter inability to admit that notion".[11] Geoffrey Hartman points out that there is a subconscious cleaving to an idea in order to escape from a feeling of separation. The little girl in the poem is unable to realize that she is separated from her dead siblings. She is unable to understand death, and she is forever in an imaginative state of being, and nature is interfering to keep the girl from understanding her separation from her siblings.[12]
However, she reinforces an anti-rationalistic trend in that she instinctively believes in an immortality that is not connected to rationality. In her ignorance she is happier than the rational narrator and represents Wordsworth's own feelings.[13] As F. W. Bateson points out, We are Seven and Anecdote for Fathers are based on "Wordsworth's recollection of his own difficulties in making contact with the alien, if not hostile, world of 'grown-ups' that enables him to present the child's point of view so sympathetically."[6] The view held by Wordsworth in the poem is optimistic, and the narrator's rationalism is slowly undermined throughout the poem. This optimism is an important theme in the Lyrical Ballads and, as John Mahoney argues, "The seemingly silly squabble between adult and child is already a revelation of the early and continuing tension in the poet between the hope for a perpetual bliss and the incursion of a harsh reality."[14]
We are Seven" is a beautiful poem composed by the great poet of nature, William Wordsworth
. The poem believes that children are the best specimens of purity, beauty and innocence. They believe that every object is as alive as they are. They are too young to understand the bitter difference between life and death.
The poet happened to meet an eight year old cottage girl who had curly hair
and beautiful wild eyes. The poet was fascinating by her beauty and charm. He asked the girl how many brothers and sisters they were. She replied that they were seven in all. The poet again asked where they were. She told him that two of them lived at Convay, two had become sailors at the sea and the last two lay buried in the churchyard. The poet requested her to explain how they were seven while two of them were buried in the graves.
She said that their graves were green and she often did her knitting and stitching work
by them. She added that she often took her supper there and sang to them in beautiful moonlit nights.The poet told her that if two of them were lying dead in graves then they were only five. The little girl
did not agree with the poet and claimed that they were seven. She did not accept his arguments at all insisted that they were seven.
Poem
We Are Seven
The poem is a dialogue between a narrator who serves as a questioner and a little girl, with the first stanza contributed by Coleridge. The poem relies on aspects of the ballad tradition in its use of a refrain. The poem begins with the narrator asking:
A simple child, dear brother Jim,
That lightly draws its breath,
And feels its life in every limb,
What should it know of death? (lines 1–4)
He transitions to describe how he met a pretty girl who was pleasing to him:[9]
She had a rustic, woodland air,
And she was wildly clad;
Her eyes were fair, and very fair;
—Her beauty made me glad. (lines 9–12)
However, his admiration is pushed aside as he begins to question her about her siblings:[9]
"Sisters and brothers, little Maid,
How many may you be?"
How many? Seven in all," she said,
And wondering looked at me. (lines 13–16)
He questions her further, asking where they are, and she simply responds that two are in Wales, two are at sea, and two are buried in a churchyard near her home. He is confused by her answer and asks:[9]
"Yet you are seven; I pray you tell,
"Sweet Maid, how this may be?" (lines 27–28)
She simply goes on to say:
"Seven boys and girls are we;
"Two of us in the church-yard lie,
"Beneath the church-yard tree." (lines 30–32)
He is unable to accept neither her view of death nor her continual us of "we" or "us" to describe the relationship between the living and dead children. He questions her further, trying to have her admit that there are only five but she merely responds:[10]
"Their graves are green, they may be seen,"
The little Maid replied,
"Twelve steps or more from my mother's door,"
"And they are side by side."
"My stockings there I often knit,
"My 'kerchief there I hem;
"And there upon the ground I sit—
"I sit and sing to them.
"And often after sun-set, Sir,
"When it is light and fair,
"I take my little porringer,
"And eat my supper there (lines 36–48)
She then describes how they die, which prompts the narrator to ask:
"How many are you then," said I,
"If they two are in Heaven?" (lines 61–62)
After the little girl repeats that they were seven in number, the narrator, frustrated, replies:[10]
"But they are dead: Those two are dead!
"Their spirits are in Heaven!" (lines 65–66)
The poem ends with a divide between the child and the narrator:[10]
'Twas throwing words away: For still
The little Maid would have her will,
And said, "Nay, we are seven!" (lines 67–69)
[edit] Themes
Wordsworth, in his Preface to the 1802 Lyrical Ballads, wrote that the poems exhibit a "power of real and substantial action and suffering" and, in particular to We are Seven, to express "the perplexity and obscurity which in childhood attend our notion of death, or rather our utter inability to admit that notion".[11] Geoffrey Hartman points out that there is a subconscious cleaving to an idea in order to escape from a feeling of separation. The little girl in the poem is unable to realize that she is separated from her dead siblings. She is unable to understand death, and she is forever in an imaginative state of being, and nature is interfering to keep the girl from understanding her separation from her siblings.[12]
However, she reinforces an anti-rationalistic trend in that she instinctively believes in an immortality that is not connected to rationality. In her ignorance she is happier than the rational narrator and represents Wordsworth's own feelings.[13] As F. W. Bateson points out, We are Seven and Anecdote for Fathers are based on "Wordsworth's recollection of his own difficulties in making contact with the alien, if not hostile, world of 'grown-ups' that enables him to present the child's point of view so sympathetically."[6] The view held by Wordsworth in the poem is optimistic, and the narrator's rationalism is slowly undermined throughout the poem. This optimism is an important theme in the Lyrical Ballads and, as John Mahoney argues, "The seemingly silly squabble between adult and child is already a revelation of the early and continuing tension in the poet between the hope for a perpetual bliss and the incursion of a harsh reality."[14]
