W. Wordsworth

William Wordsworth

William Wordsworth was a poet of the Romantic period who wrote both in rhyme and in free verse. Wordsworth was also known for the imagery he used in his pieces. He liked to provoke his audience’s feelings and did so in such a way that we would get lost in his words. Even if the poem was about death, which he spoke of with several voices, the language in which Wordsworth used left with a feeling of comfort.

His piece “We are Seven”, for example, is written in the voice of a small girl. In this poem he begins speaking (I’m assuming it’s him) and finishes the poem in the voice of a little girl. Her words are delicate and death does not seem to bother her. She speaks of the family members that have died in her family and where their bodies lie. Even though we usually don’t associate children speaking of death, the girl in this piece had a very strong voice and didn’t seem to be speaking outside of her age frame. She was articulate, calm, and confident with her words and Wordsworth did a very good job making their conversation believable. I took a persona poetry course so I know how challenging that can be.

Death is also in Wordsworth’s piece “Strange fits of passion have I known.” In this poem he speaks of his trip going o see a woman named Lucy. He never reveals who exactly Lucy is, but he describes the scenery and the night on his way to go see her. The moon is his guiding light…

I to her cottage bent my way
Beneath the evening moon

And gives a sense of comfort along his route. The night seems cool and while reading, I felt as if I were on horseback on my way too!! All along his journey his thought of her kept him happy and then he mentions how the thought of her death would bring him pain. The mysteriousness of Wordsworth was also, I feel, a strong point of his writing.