My Heart Leaps Up
-William Wordsworth-
William Wordsworth
(1770 – 1850)
• William Wordsworth, (born April 7, 1770,
Cockermouth, Cumberland, England—died
April 23, 1850, Rydal Mount, Westmorland)
• English poet whose Lyrical Ballads (1798),
written with Samuel Taylor Coleridge, helped
launch the English Romantic movement.
My Heart Leaps Up
-William Wordsworth-
• It was likely prompted by one of the many long walks
Wordsworth took with his sister Dorothy through the Lake
District region of northern England.
• Dorothy's well-kept journal of their daily life while living there
reveals that Wordsworth wrote the poem on March 26, 1802.
• Mostly, the poem is set in the poet's own mind, where he
thinks on his life from childhood, to the present, and onwards
into the future.
My Hearts Leaps Up
-William Wordsworth-
9
• The entire poem has _______ lines.
• This poem is in_____________period
Romantic in English
literature.
ABCCABCD
• The rhyme scheme of the poem is __________
D
My heart leaps up when I behold A
A rainbow in the sky: B
So was it when my life began; C
So is it now I am a man; C
So be it when I shall grow old, A
Or let me die! B
The Child is father of the Man; C
And I could wish my days to be D
Bound each to each by natural piety. D
Discuss in group
1. Summarize the poem
2. Explain the meaning of each stanza
3. Analyze Figures of speech in the poem
Summary
This poem begins with a reference to a rainbow. Whenever
Wordsworth beholds it, his heart gets filled with enthusiasm and
energy. It is not that the sensation of joy existed in his heart when he
was a child. As an adult, he still enjoys the beauty of a rainbow. He
wishes to retain this childish self even if he matures and grows old.
If it does not happen, he will embrace death unquestionably.
According to him, nature, symbolized by the rainbow, will always be
divine, and he thinks it should be for everyone.
Themes
This poem consists of the following themes: nature, childhood, beauty, and aging.
The main theme of this piece like most of his poems is nature and the beauty in it.
For him, nature is a true embodiment of God. A glimpse of the rainbow is like having
glimpses of the divine entity. The rainbow is nothing other than a bridge that connects
poets to the spiritual self. He wishes never to lose touch with nature even if he grows
old. The theme of childhood is another important aspect of this piece. This theme is
present in the third and seventh lines. Besides, the theme of aging is displayed in the
fifth line.
Line 1-2
My heart leaps up when I behold
A rainbow in the sky:
In the first lines of the poem, Wordsworth explains his reaction to a rainbow. It’s
obvious that the poet has a deep affinity for the natural world. He says, “My heart
leaps up…” This is an extreme reaction to a not uncommon meteorological event.
Rainbows are, universally, regarded as beautiful, but the rainbow in this poem is a
symbol of nature as a whole. Wordsworth’s reaction is somewhat extreme. Most
grown men do not react with the same level of enthusiasm to a rainbow. As the
poem goes on, however, he will argue that we should all share his sense of
wonder.
Line 3-4
So was it when my life began;
So is it now I am a man;
In these lines, the poet describes that he has always felt the same visceral,
joyous reaction to a rainbow and to nature as a whole. His sense of wonder
began when he was born and persisted throughout his childhood, into his
adulthood. Wordsworth has been a fan of nature from the very start.
Both lines begin similarly with the word “So”. This device (anaphora) is used to
emphasize his idea. It also helps readers to understand that the meaning of
these lines is internally connected.
Line 5-6
So be it when I shall grow old,
Or let me die!
Wordsworth gets a bit extreme in these lines. First, he states that he hopes to
continue to be mesmerized by nature well into old age. Then, he says “Or let
me die!” The fairly unambiguous interpretation here is that the poet would
rather die than find the world around him boring and bereft of beauty. Death
would be preferable to becoming a jaded cynic who cannot grasp the wonder
of nature.
Line 7
The Child is father of the Man;
This is, perhaps, the most important line of ‘My Heart Leaps Up’. In his typical
fashion, Wordsworth gives a seemingly straightforward metaphor, which
actually has enormous implications.
All people were once children, so the line makes some sense on that level. We
come from children as children come from their parents. The greater implication
is that, as a parent, a child can be a great teacher and a great role model.
Children are constantly experiencing the world as if for the first time. They have
an unending sense of wonder and awe regarding nature and, indeed, life itself.
Wordsworth is saying we should be like children in this way and that we should
hold on to our childhood sense of the world.
Line 8-9
And I could wish my days to be
Bound each to each by natural piety.
In the last two lines of the poem, Wordsworth closes by reiterating the idea that
he hopes to continue being in awe of nature. He wants every day to be tied
together by an ongoing theme of love for the world. The words “natural piety”
imply that the poet considered his feeling for nature to be so reverent that
seeing a rainbow was an almost spiritual experience.
Literary Devices
• Anaphora: is the repetition of a word or phrase at the
beginning of multiple lines, usually in succession.
• Hyperbole: making exaggerated statements or claims not
meant to be taken literally
• Allusion: is an indirect reference to, including but not limited
to, an idea, event, or person.
• Paradox: a statement that contradicts itself.
• Personification: given something characteristics of living
beings.
• Enjambment: a line of poetry carries its idea or thought over
to the next line without a grammatical pause
Personification
My heart leaps up
Hearts don't leap, people do. This personification gives us an
image of the heart's jubilation at the sight of the rainbow.
Hyperbole
It occurs in “Or let me die”. This line is also a rhetorical
exclamation.
Anaphora
• So was it when my life began;
• So is it now I am a man;
• So be it when I shall grow old,
Allusion
• A rainbow
Paradox
The Child is father of the Man;
Generally, we think the man is the father of the child because the father is
the source from which something originates. We know that the role of the
man is instrumental behind the birth of the child. A child can never
produce a man, therefore the statement; “the child is the father of the man”
is paradoxical
Enjambment:
• It is found between lines 1 and 2, 5 and 6, 8 and 9
• Example
My heart leaps up when I behold
A rainbow in the sky:
