William Wordsworth

Williams Wordsworth

William Wordsworth started off with a pretty good life until his mother died. After his mother’s death, his family slipped into the middle-class way of life. It was stated in the readings that Wordsworth poetry was not meant for the upper-class. Out of all the readings thus far, I must say that Wordsworth reading has been more difficult for me to understand. However I was moved by his writing on Simon Lee and We Are Seven. These writings brought out messages to me that I could relate to. Simon Lee showed generosity and genuine support between younger generations to older generation. We Are Seven supported family.

Who was “Simon Lee?” Simon Lee was a young man that was a hunter who was well known and full of energy. Simon Lee was also an old man that grew to be slow and swollen and poor. This poem goes back and forth concerning a man that was full of energy and zeal to an older man. Simon Lee went from being a well-off man to a poor man. He had no children, so that meant he had no help being an old man. Within this poem, Simon Lee receives help from someone as mentioned on page 199, “You’re overtasked, good Simon Lee, Give me your tool…” This showed genuine support of the lower class by a neighbor or passerby. Now in the wealthy society, they would never have to worry about help because they had maids. So even if they were sick or just getting old or healthy; they always had a helping hand. I enjoyed this poem. I liked the way Wordsworth went back and forth from old to young within this poem, it kept my attention. We will all grow older at some point in our life. Some of us will lose our energy and zeal sooner than others but it will come upon us all.

“We Are Seven” on page 200 also supports the introduction of Wordsworth writings not being pleasing to the upper-class. Wealthy families tend to fight and bicker over material things and power. The poor families base their foundations off of loving and supporting one another. “We Are Seven” represented a family of love and support. I say that because on page 201 it states, {“How many are you then,” said I, “If they two are in Heaven?”… “O Master! We are seven.”}. Even with the two dead and two at sea, the family still spoke of the family consisting of seven.

The main point that I gathered from Wordsworth writing was his reflections of the poor families. He spoke of happiness and joy in spite of the situation. He even used nature to help reflect happiness in his poem “Lines Written a Few Miles above Tintern Abbey.”. If you are poor, you don’t have money to buy material things to keep you happy; therefore meditating on nature should give you a sense of peace and happiness.