The Strength of a Family The main character of William Wordsworth's poem, 'We are Seven'; is an eight-year girl that knows more about devotion to her family the most adults ever know. It seems that author is who comes across this child on his journeys. He takes a liking to her right away and even thought, 'Her beauty made me glad.'; I quickly find out that she is one of seven brothers and sisters and she is the only one that is alive and still at home. I say alive, because she has a brother and sister that 'in the church-yard lie';. The four others, presumably four brothers, have all grown up and moved away from home. The entire poem is about the interactions of the man and this girl. For whatever …show more content…
She doesn't seem hardened or sad, but seems devoted. The man is even convinced that the girl is far to old for her age and comments once, 'You run about, my little Maid, / Your limbs they are alive'; The mood is always somber and serious, but seemed to have a slice of uplifting optimism in it as well. For she never spoke of them as dead and never mentioned them as separate from her. 'Two of us in the church-yard lie'; was her most explicit explanation of where they were. Perhaps she was cold and in denial of what had happened, one might say. For when her sister died the girl and her brother played together around her grave. But we think that rather than denial or something unhealthy, it was simply the devotion. The strength of the family that loves one another with all their hearts was all she knew. This means forever to her and I'm sure her dead brother and sister would feel the same, if the misfortune had fallen upon her instead of one of them. Every word she speaks is saturated with convictions to her devotions to her brother and sister. 'O Master! We are seven….[the man] 'Twas throwing words away; for still / The little Maid would have her will'; Though-out the entire poem this debate continues. When the end of the poem comes nothing has been resolved; the girl still says she 'we are seven'; and the man still thinks its absurd to continue to count dead siblings as part of your family now. The other
The tone of this poem is a mixture of emotions. She seems to enjoy being in his company, although the stories he shares break her heart. She expresses her conflicting feeling when she states the following:
As Wendy Martin says “the poem leaves the reader with painful impression of a woman in her mid-fifties, who having lost her domestic comforts is left to struggle with despair. Although her loss is mitigated by the promise of the greater rewards of heaven, the experience is deeply tragic.” (75)
Richard Blanco is a Cuban- American poet who was given the oppurunity to write an inaugaration poem for Barack Obama's second swearing-in. He wrote a poem titled "One Today" that praised the good and unique things about the United States and also the everyday people who's daily routines help to make America the proud country that it is.
The poem then transitions to the post-marriage life of the couple in stanza two. In lines eight through ten, the speaker states that she is too shy around her husband. Not only does she not smile, but also she does not answer her husband when he calls her. This shows that the speaker's life took a great emotional transition, as she is overly shy and feels uncomfortable around him. However, around the middle of the second stanza, the speaker transitions into another stage of
In stanza 12, she tells us that he has “bit her pretty red heart in two.” Next, she states that he died when she was ten, and when she was twenty years old, she attempted suicide - “…I tried to die, to get back back back to you.” In stanza 13 is where she starts talking about her husband. She says that instead of dying, her friends “stuck her together with glue,” and since she could not die to get back to her father, she would marry someone who was similar.
The last line in the poem “and since they were not the ones dead, turned to their own affairs” lacks the emotions the reader would expect a person to feel after a death of a close family member. But instead, it carries a neutral tone which implies that death doesn’t even matter anymore because it happened too often that the value of life became really low, these people are too poor so in order to survive, they must move on so that their lives can continue. A horrible sensory image was presented in the poem when the “saw leaped out at the boy’s hand” and is continued throughout the poem when “the boy’s first outcry was a rueful laugh…the hand was gone already…and that ended it”, this shows emphasis to the numbness the child felt. The poem continues with the same cold tone without any expression of emotion or feelings included except for pain, which emphasizes the lack of sympathy given. Not only did the death of this child placed no effect on anyone in the society but he was also immediately forgotten as he has left nothing special enough behind for people to remember him, so “since they were not the one dead, turned to their affairs”. This proves that life still carries on the same way whether he is present or not, as he is insignificant and that his death
In the poem, the little girl says, “Two of us in the church-yard lie, / My sister and my brother; (Lines 21-22).” Insisting that they are still seven, the young girl shows a lot of grace and mature understanding. This is the majority of the poem because the narrator thinks it is most important that the young girl understands she has still has five siblings, despite two of them have passed and, “their graves are green, they may be seen (Line 37).” The girl is only eight years of age and she understands that her deceased siblings are still her siblings even though they are not still living. Making sure she understands she still has five siblings is exactly what the narrator’s goal is, but the narrator is pretending to believe they are only five. The narrator reinforces his “belief” in lines 35-36: “If two are in the church-yard laid,/ Then ye are only five.” The conversation resurfaces later in the poem, in lines 61-64: “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.” No matter what is said by the narrator, the eight year old girl insists that they are seven. Two siblings being dead is the most reinforced because the narrator and the little girl know that her siblings at Conway or at sea are anticipated to return home sometime. The other two, the deceased two, will never return home.
A more disturbing perspective that the poem can take on is that the speaker wants to be the slave to this woman he admires. As mentioned before, the speaker considers the girl as a confidante, but then follows on to say that he wants to undress and take her virginity. “O she’ll give pleasure! in future, no grown man will deny it! But tonight, to me, this chaste girl bares unthinking the delicate blush/Of a most secret landscape, her woman’s body” (9-14). These lines also gave me pedophilic vibes because he calls the female figure “a girl” and it was interesting
From the beginning of the poem, the reader can tell that the tone of the poem is consistent. There is no shift in tone, it’s simply sad and bitter. The father notices the innocence of his daughter and knows that there is bad luck that is coming for her future. The reader is able to see the father’s concern throughout the poem when he says that the “night’s slow poison” will change her. He knows that this issue cannot be changed, so he is doing what he can to avoid it becoming a bigger dilemma. By the end of the poem, it’s easy to notice that the father has become angry about the situation that is brought upon him. In the last two lines, the father decides that he doesn’t want to have children because of all the things he sees in their future, nothing but pain and suffering. His decision is expressed in the way he says “These speculations sour in the sun. I have
In the final stanza, he makes the reader sad as he assumes the inevitable will happen and she will die. He expresses this through metaphors such as a “black figure in her white cave”, which is a reference to the bright white hospital rooms and although he is the black figure he thinks she just sees a shadow which could be the grim reaper or even death himself, coming to end her journey. No one wants to deal with the sorrow of losing a loved one for good, as
In the poem, “35/10” by Sharon Olds, the speaker uses wistful and jealous tones to convey her feeling about her daughter’s coming of age. The speaker, a thirty-five year old woman, realizes that as the door to womanhood is opening for her ten year old daughter, it is starting to close for her. A wistful tone is used when the speaker calls herself, “the silver-haired servant” (4) behind her daughter, indicating that she wishes she was not the servant, but the served. Referring to herself as her daughter’s servant indicates a sense of self-awareness in the speaker. She senses her power is weakening and her daughter’s power is strengthening. It also shows wistfulness for her diminishing youth, and sadness for her advancing years. This
The last line, “a heart whose love is innocent,” reflects that the woman is truly pure and has a good heart. This line leave the reader feeling very peaceful knowing that this maiden is pure and true in her innocence.
refering directing it for women. The poem comes off as sexual. its hard to tell weather she is
In both pieces she wishes to be detached from love and responsibility, yet as the poem progresses, she has a change of heart, almost an epiphany.
Margaret Atwood creates a haunting and beautiful piece describing the experience a sad child goes through. She structures her poem by using five stanzas; two stanzas consisting of five lines, then one stanza with ten lines, and ending with two stanzas consisting of five lines. She uses simple yet powerful diction, tone, metaphors, similes, symbolism, and imagery to show the unknown speaker giving advice to a sad child. Her message/theme is sadness is a part of life and there are different ways to deal with it, but when death comes the thing that one is being sad about doesn’t matter.