FIRST PAPER

Subject : Poesía inglesa de los siglos XIX y XX

Student´s name : Ruiz Martín, Joaquín

Title of the paper : Analysis of “We are Seven”

Author or topic : William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge

I include here the poem of my analysis, that is “We are Seven”, by William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge (Bartleby. http://www.bartleby.com/145/ww124.html. 23 Nov. 2007):

WE ARE SEVEN

  --------A simple Child,
 That lightly draws its breath,
 And feels its life in every limb,
 What should it know of death?
 
 I met a little cottage Girl:
 She was eight years old, she said;
 Her hair was thick with many a curl
 That clustered round her head.
 
 She had a rustic, woodland air,
 And she was wildly clad: 10
 Her eyes were fair, and very fair;
 --Her beauty made me glad.
 
 "Sisters and brothers, little Maid,
 How many may you be?"
 "How many? Seven in all," she said
 And wondering looked at me.
 
 "And where are they? I pray you tell."
 She answered, "Seven are we;
 And two of us at Conway dwell,
 And two are gone to sea. 20
 
 "Two of us in the church-yard lie,
 My sister and my brother;
 And, in the church-yard cottage, I
 Dwell near them with my mother."
 
 "You say that two at Conway dwell,
 And two are gone to sea,
 Yet ye are seven!--I pray you tell,
 Sweet Maid, how this may be."
 
 Then did the little Maid reply,
 "Seven boys and girls are we; 30
 Two of us in the church-yard lie,
 Beneath the church-yard tree."
 
 "You run about, my little Maid,
 Your limbs they are alive;
 If two are in the church-yard laid,
 Then ye are only five."
 
 "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.  40
 
 "My stockings there I often knit,
 My kerchief there I hem;
 And there upon the ground I sit,
 And sing a song to them.
 "And often after sunset, Sir,
 When it is light and fair,
 I take my little porringer,
 And eat my supper there.
 
 "The first that died was sister Jane;
 In bed she moaning lay, 50
 Till God released her of her pain;
  And then she went away.
 
 "So in the church-yard she was laid;
 And, when the grass was dry,
 Together round her grave we played,
 My brother John and I.
 
 "And when the ground was white with snow,
  And I could run and slide,
 My brother John was forced to go,
 And he lies by her side." 60
 
 "How many are you, then," said I,
 "If they two are in heaven?"
 Quick was the little Maid's reply,
 "O Master! we are seven."
 
 "But they are dead; those two are dead!
 Their spirits are in heaven!"
 'Twas throwing words away; for still
 The little Maid would have her will,
 And said, "Nay, we are seven!"
 
 

The subject of this poem is the discussion about how many people there are, whith the unexpected response of a little girl who answers that they are seven, being only five alive.

In the first stanza it is explained that the child is “simple”, which could mean that he or she is innocent, silly or has not lived enough to know about life and death, to be contaminated by society, etc.

In the second and third stanzas the child is described as “roustic” eight years old girl, which could be a synonym of “simple”, and beauty, among other qualities.

The folowing seven stanzas show a discussion between the narrator of the poem – he seems to me to be a teacher- and the child. The little girl insists on defending that they are seven, and the narrator believes that they are five. These two answers are different because the girl takes in account the two people that are dead and the five ones who are alive, whereas the narrator only counts the alive people.

In the next six stanzas the eight years old girl describe what she does by the graves: she eats, sings, knits and sews there.

Finally, in the sixteenth and seventeenth stanzas, the narrator insists on saying that they are five, giving the reason that the other two are dead (“in heaven”), but the girl does not change her opinion.

As I have already said, the poem is divided into seventeent stanzas. The lines are alternately eight and six syllables long and the rhyme is abab. Thus, the poem is written in standard ballad stanzas (compare it with other poems of “Lyrical Ballads” in Bartley: http://www.bartley.com/. 28 Nov. 2007).

The language of this poem is rather simple; it only appears a figure of speech, a metaphor (Figure of Speech. Wikipedia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Figure_of_speech. 26 Nov. 2007): “throwing words away”, which it is quite easy to understand - it means that the words used by the narrator ara useless because the girl until the end thinks that there are seven people. The system of questions and answers contributes to make the poem quite vivid and very close to casual speech.

William Wordsworht explains clearly that he is the author of all the stanzas of “We are Seven” but the first: “I composed the last stanza first, having begun with the last line. When it was all but finished, I came in and recited it to Mr. Coleridge and my Sister, and said, 'A prefatory stanza must be added, and I should sit down to our little tea-meal with greater pleasure if my task was finished.'” (Wordsworth's notes to We Are Seven. Poet’s Corner. http://www.theotherpages.org/poems/2000/w/words57b.html. 25 Nov. 2007)

As Matt Ridenhour remarks, “the first addition of Lyrical Ballads was published anonymously in 1798. "We are Seven" was written by Wordsworth, along with "The Idiot Boy" and "The Thorn" to supplement Coleridge's supernatural poem the "Ancient Mariner"” (Matt Ridenhour on We are Seven. Clayfox. http://www.clayfox.com/ashessparks/reports/matt.html 27 Nov. 2007).

Romanticism “was partly a revolt against aristocratic, social, and political norms of the Enlightenment period and a reaction against the scientific rationalization of nature in art and literature” (Romanticism. Wikipedia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romanticism. 26 Nov. 2007). In “We are Seven” appear two opposite views of nature: the rationalist, represented by the narrator, and what could be called “the natural view”, represented by the little innocent girl. The narrator thinks that there are five people, so he is being rationalist; by contrast the girl believes that there are seven because she does not distinguish between dead and alive people. The narrator does a disctinction that is very common in our culture; apparently there is no doubt that it is stupid counting dead people as the girl does, but, in my opinion we do this because we have learned it, it is not something natural. I think that this disctinction is done because of the Christian, Western or Platonic culure that implies that people who are dead does not exist in the material world, because they are in Heaven- the idealistic world in Plato. Wordsworth supports the “natural view” because the title of the poem (We are seven) and the fact that the girl finishes the poem by repeating her belief reinforces this point of view.

“We are Seven” is related to the questioning of the Christian’s explanation of reality, which started to be important when the Industrial Revolution began – the Romantic period- and which continues and is more evident today. It is also possible to see this poem as an example of the missing authority of an adult over a child, which is a very important issue in our society.

 BIBLIOGRAPHY

Bartleby. http://www.bartleby.com/145/ww124.html. 23 Nov. 2007

Figure of Speech. Wikipedia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Figure_of_speech. 26 Nov. 2007

Poet’s Corner. http://www.theotherpages.org/poems/2000/w/words57b.html. 25 Nov. 2007

Clayfox. http://www.clayfox.com/ashessparks/reports/matt.html 27 Nov. 2007

Romanticism. Wikipedia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romanticism. 26 Nov. 2007

Auto-evaluation:

Academic year 2007/2008
© a.r.e.a./Dr.Vicente Forés López
© Joaquín Ruiz Martín
joruiz4@alumni.uv.es
Universitat de València Press