Wednesday, October 12, 2011
We are Seven
I am not quite sure what direction I should take this analysis of "We are Seven". I see it from two different aspects. One being that it is a touching tale of a little girl who is lonely and will not let go of her two dead siblings. She continues to acknowledge them as living and carries out everyday activities by their graves to "interact" with them. Another point of view, however, is ecological. The girl mentions how her siblings' "graves are green", as if Nature would be more plentiful from the death of mankind. I certainly hope that is not what William Wordsworth meant by that phrase. I mean, yes human bodies can decompose and better fertilize the grass and make it greener, but focusing in on such a minor truth about Nature leaves me wondering what his intent really was.
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I wouldn’t say that man becoming part of nature in death is a minor truth. Understanding the links between life, death and nature and how all these things exist together helps reduce the separation of man and nature, the idea of nature as some “other” thing to be observed from a distance. Throughout the poem, the narrator does not understand why the girl insists “we are seven” when two siblings are dead and this suggests he does not understand that death is as natural as life and in some ways can bring humans closer to nature. The girl does not seem worse off for her belief in her dead siblings or for her time spent playing the churchyard around their graves, she is content whilst the narrator is baffled and I read this as an argument against separation and for the need for humans to accept their part in nature (including death, which is still natural).
ReplyDeleteI wholeheartedly agree with Devon's comment and previous post concerning the relationship between life, death and nature in "We Are Seven". The ideas that life and death should both be accepted parts of nature, and that an idea of Heaven should not separate us from the deceased are very insightful. I really like how Devon previously pointed out that Wordsworth emphasizes the idea that the siblings in Conway and at sea are, at heart, more distant to the girl than her deceased relatives. I feel that Wordsworth wishes to highlight how shared experience ties people together, and how the expansion of the modern world may hinder these ties.
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