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Why did Wordsworth write we are seven?
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What does the speaker say in we are seven?
A simple child asks a cottage girl how many of her seven brothers and sisters are dead and alive, and she replies that they are all seven, including her own. The poem expresses the poet's surprise and grief at the girl's answer and his own loss of childhood innocence.
- Summary of We Are Seven
- Detailed Analysis
- Conclusion
- William Wordsworth Background
We Are Seven by William Wordsworth begins with the speakerasking what a child, who is clearly full of life, could possibly know about death. At first, the poet makes it seem as if the child doesn’t know anything about death This is due to the fact that she does not seem to understand that her siblings have died. The little girl continues to spend t...
Stanza One
The speaker opens with a question, one that resonates with most if not all people. Why should a child ever have to experience death? Immediately, any reader who’s ever known the untimely death of a child, or experienced a young child lose a mother, father, or sibling, identifies with the speaker.
Stanzas 2-3
The speaker then begins to describe a young girl with whom he is speaking. He describes her “clusters” or curls around her head and her very light eyes. Once the reader has the image of a beautiful little girl in mind, he/she can imagine the conversationtaking place and thereby further identify with the speaker. When the speaker claims that the beauty of the young girl made him “glad”, the reader begins to feel the effect this little girl had on the speaker.
Stanzas 4-6
The speaker begins a conversation with this young lively girl in which he asks her how many siblings she has. The girl replies that she is one of seven. She then explains that “two [were at] Conway”, or going to school, and that “two [were] out to sea” and finally that two were buried “in the church-yard” and that she alone lived with her mother in a home not too far from where her two siblings were buried. Within the innocent, light-hearted answers of the young girl, there are embedded reali...
As We Are Sevenprogresses, the reader can clearly see that the child has a much more hopeful idea of death than the stranger she was speaking with. It was hard for the child to see her siblings laid in the ground, but she never felt as if they were gone. She still felt close to them, and she kept them alive in her heart by engaging in activities wi...
William Wordsworth himself suffered the loss of his mother at age eight, the same age as this little girl in We Are Seven. He also lost his father when he was thirteen. It is possible that the speaker in We Are Sevensymbolizes the adult version of William Wordsworth, while the eight-year-old symbolizes his younger self. Wordsworth lost his two chil...
- “We Are Seven” Summary.
- “We Are Seven” Themes. Childhood Innocence vs. Adult Understanding. See where this theme is active in the poem. The Nature of Death.
- Line-by-Line Explanation & Analysis of “We Are Seven” Lines 1-4. ———A simple Child, That lightly draws its breath, And feels its life in every limb, What should it know of death?
- “We Are Seven” Symbols. Seasons. See where this symbol appears in the poem.
We are Seven" is a poem written by William Wordsworth and published in his Lyrical Ballads. It describes a discussion between an adult poetic speaker and a "little cottage girl" about the number of brothers and sisters who dwell with her.
A poem about a simple child who asks a cottage girl how many brothers and sisters she has, and she replies "seven" with a simple answer. The poem explores the themes of childhood, death, and the connection between children and nature. The poem is in the public domain and was written by William Wordsworth, a influential poet of the romantic movement.
Feb 1, 2021 · ‘O Master! we are seven.’ Like a bad maths teacher trying to get a pupil to solve an arithmetical problem, Wordsworth presses his question once more. If John and Jane are in heaven, how many are you, really? But the girl replies, consistently, ‘we are seven.’ ‘But they are dead; those two are dead! Their spirits are in heaven!’
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.
