William Wordworth

Wordsworth most memorable poem, to me at least, is "We Are Seven." This poem appears depict some of Wordsworth's metaphysical beliefs or at least show how Wordsworth felt concerning people's perception of death. The poem follows a narrative of a man, presumably an adult Wordsworth describing to an acquaintance an occurrence he had in a churchyard with a little girl. Wordsworth asks the girl how many brothers and sisters she has, to which she promptly responds there are seven of them. This is in spite of the fact that two of the seven are dead. Wordsworth attempts to correct the little girl but to not avail, as she always says that there are seven of them. The two that are in the churchyard are still there. they are merely dead. This can be seen in the last line of the poem, " '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 say, 'Nay we are seven!' " (Wordsworth 201). What this says to me is that there is a fundamental difference between the death perceived by adults and the death perceived by children. For a child, such as the young made of the poem, death is not a sad occurrence but merely a different type of existing. For an adult it is much more somber and conclusive. I believe Wordsworth is saying that everyone should be like the little girl of the poem and perceive death in more innocent terms, just like the little Maid.