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William Wordsworth
William Wordsworth
William Wordsworth
My Heart Leaps Up
My heart leaps up when I behold A rainbow in the sky: So was it when my life began; So is it now I am a man; So be it when I shall grow old, Or let me die! The Child is father of the Man; And I could wish my days to be Bound each to each by natural piety.
My Heart Leaps Up
My heart leaps up when I behold A rainbow in the sky:
Wordsworth expresses his desire to be a part of the rainbow and its magnificence.
My Heart Leaps Up
So was it when my life began; So is it now I am a man;
This line insinuates that Wordsworth found life to be beautiful and still believes so to this day.
My Heart Leaps Up
So be it when I shall grow old, Or let me die!
Wordsworth claims that he would rather die than lose his wonder of the world.
My Heart Leaps Up
The Child is father of the Man; This line suggests that the child produces the man. The man is made from childhood experiences
My Heart Leaps Up
And I could wish my days to be Bound each to each by natural piety.
Wordsworth hopes that he will always appreciate the wonders of nature throughout his life.
Literary Devices
Paradox- most important concept in this poem
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.
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