Youth’s Concept of Death in Wordsworth's Poetry 

William Wordsworth’s poetry shows a man that yearned for more, and someone who found comfort in his writings about nature. In Wordsworth’s poetry, particularly “We are Seven,” death plays a pivotal role in expressing his characters. He wanted to pierce into his reader’s feelings by applying youth, and he wanted to reach 'the naked and native dignity of man”. Wordsworth successfully develops the important position of death in his poetry through imagery, tone, and diction.

The first shift occurs when the speaker asks the little girl about her siblings. In the first stanza, Wordsworth uses imagery to contrast the youth of the child, symbolizing life, and straightforward diction for death. “A simple Child, That lightly draws its breath, And feels its life in every limb, What should it know of death?” In this stanza, Wordsworth contrasts the words breath and death to create life and death in his opening paragraph. It also introduces the naivety of the child, begging the question; Should children have any idea about death? The structure of the poem is a ballad, and the opening paragraph and concluding paragraph are the only ones that do not follow this sequence. The alternating lines of iambic tetrameter and iambic trimeter give the poem a similar style to the song, and gives the little girl a more bubbly air to her. In the second and third stanza, Wordsworth describes the girl so that she would be youthful and innocent. “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: Her eyes were fair, and very fair; —Her beauty made me glad.” By directly stating that she is eight and has very fair skin, or pale skin, she is seen as pure and innocent. Like Lord Byron, during this era she would’ve been considered to be very beautiful. The narrator also states her as a “little maid” reinforcing the idea that she is still a young maiden. In the same stanza, Wordsworth starts to develop the main storyline in this poem, where the narrator asks the child how many siblings she has. Some foreshadowing is implemented when the narrator describes her look as “wondering.” This transitions to stanza five and six, where the reader learns the fates of all of her siblings.

The second shift occurs when the speaker learns that two of her six siblings are dead. The first pairing is in Conway, and the second pair is out to sea. The third paring are not so lucky, who lie in a church yard. She proclaims “Seven are we” very proudly. This confuses the narrator, because by their count, there are five siblings in total. This causes the divide between the narrator and the child. To her, her dead siblings still count as part of the seven, but to him, they are not like her, so they are not part of the seven. Even so, the girl has no doubt of her dead siblings being with her. He makes strong contrasts by comparing how lively she is to the deathly silence of her compatriots. 'You run about, my little Maid, Your limbs they are alive; If two are in the church-yard laid, Then ye are only five.' To him, death is the end, and there is no changing that. He sees her as naive, and incapable of comprehending death. The girl seems to think she knows all about death, and that the speaker just doesn’t understand her point of view. To her, the siblings are still part of her daily routine. The little girl proclaims “Their graves are green, they may be seen,” telling the reader that their graves are new and fresh, and still contain life. The graves are also close to the home. “Twelve steps or more from my mother’s door, And they are side by side.” This signifies that they are so close to their lives, and this creates a contrast, because these graves are closer to the girl and her mother than the girl’s siblings, since they are so far away traveling. Doing daily activities at their graves, like sewing and knitting, she keeps their memory fresh in her mind.

The third shift is when the little girl proudly proclaims to the narrator that her siblings are not gone, and that they are still with them through death. In the conclusion of the poem, she provides a more descriptive background as to how her two siblings had passed. This is how Wordsworth uses straightforward diction to create a solemn tone. The conclusion could be seen as how she is opened up to real life, as she isn’t tainted or scarred like an adult would be after this much death in such a short time. Her sister had died of a serious illness, and her brother was taken by the winter cold. 'The first that died was sister Jane; In bed she moaning lay, Till God released her of her pain; And then she went away.” Ironically, Jane was the one that was seen as given an ending to her suffering. '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.' In contrast, as John was “forced to go” while playing around his dead sisters grave, it seems as though he was ripped from his family too soon. This contrast is interesting, because it seems that Jane’s suffering and eventual death was meant to happen, so it didn’t hurt the child as badly, but when her brother was taken by the winter cold, it was unexpected, and her heart and feelings were jerked on suddenly, causing more pain and strife. As the girls descriptions become more broad, the man pushes even further to prove his point to the girl. He blatantly asks “‘How many are you, then,’ said I, ‘If they two are in heaven?’”, meaning if your two siblings are with the god above, how many people are here? With a quick reply, she says “O Master! we are seven.” The speaker starts to become frustrated, and yells at an innocent girl that they are dead, and that they are no longer here, so they cannot be with her. Even the speaker knows that his words couldn’t penetrate her mindset. “’Twas throwing words away; for still.” Persistent in her statement, the girl powerfully proclaimed that the siblings were still seven.

In conclusion, the narrator approaches a youthful girl who believes such a young person should have no idea of death. The speaker asks the girl how many brothers and sisters she has, and she declares that 'we are seven.' The speaker learns of the siblings whereabouts and that two are dead. The speaker believes that the siblings are gone and that the girl should believe so as well. The little girl believes her family is with her and that they are whole. The speaker uses imagery to describe the little girl, a somber tone when describing the deaths of the girls two siblings, and straightforward dark diction to make the narrator seem cruel and persistent and the girl as knowledgeable and unwavering. The question is never answered as to if the siblings are truly with the girl, but Wordsworth seems to be on the little girl’s side, given the bouncy, bubbly feel of the structure of the poem, and how the girl’s resolve is always strong.

Works Cited

1. Universidad Complutense de Madrid. “Wordsworth Summary.” Wordsworth Summary, 19 Feb. 2014, www.ucm.es/data/cont/docs/119-2014-02-19-2.%20WordsworthSummary.pdf.
2. Wordsworth, William, and Thomas Bewick. We are seven. Meissner & Buch, 1892.