William Wordsworth Weaves Juxtaposing Imagery

¶ … William Wordsworth weaves juxtaposing imagery of life and death, innocence and wisdom in his poem "We are Seven." The narrator begins the story with a short one-verse introduction that summarizes the theme of the poem: "A simple child...what should it know of death?" Proceeding to relay the anecdote about meeting an eight-year-old "cottage girl," the narrator describes his interaction with the girl as a series of questions and her answers about how many siblings she has. The little girl repeatedly tells the narrator "Seven are we," referring to her family even though one brother and one sister passed away. Although they are dead, the little girl still views them as alive. She eats dinner with them and sings to them. The narrator cannot understand why the girl would claim she has seven brothers and sisters when two of them are no longer alive; the little girl cannot fathom why the man would not count the dead siblings as part of her family. Wordsworth irony to deftly to convey girl's innocent wisdom and the narrator's jaded rigidity in "We are Seven."

In the opening line of the poem the narrator describes the young girl as being "simple." His point-of-view as an adult is contrasted sharply with the fresh perspective offered by the eight-year-old. Unlike the little girl the narrator's view on death is glaringly simple: to him death is the end. His view on death is apparently influenced by his culture, for the narrator depicts the girl as a woodland child, with a "rustic, woodland air" who was "wildly clad." His description shows that the man perceives her innocence as being uncivilized. He therefore dismisses her view on her siblings as being irrational. However, the girl makes perfect sense based on her sensory perceptions: to her, the bodies of her brother and sister are "beneath the churchyard tree." Moreover, the little girl affirms their physicality by stating plainly, "Their graves are green, they may be seen." The narrator, though, believes that their deaths erase their existence. He believes the girl has only four siblings because two of them are dead. The girl's innocence is not necessarily ignorance, even though the narrator views her as being "simple."

Yet the narrator can never claim to know any more about life or death than the little girl. The little girl often eats her supper with her dead siblings and sings to them too. She does not perceive their physical absence as being permanent any more than she views her live siblings, who are away at sea and in Conway, as being absent from her life. The narrator, on the other hand, exclaims "But they are dead; those two are dead!" even while knowing that he was "throwing words away." The narrator fails to convince the little girl that her two dead siblings are any different than the ones who are alive and away from home. Moreover, the narrator fails to destroy the little girl's optimism and sense of innocence. The narrator is a jaded man who clings to a belief that death is final. Although he affirms that a "simple child" "feels its life in every limb," he cannot stretch his consciousness to embrace the girl's point-of-view. The girl simply defines death differently than the narrator.

Therefore, Wordsworth explains two highly different worldviews. Wordsworth demonstrates the irony inherent in civilization through the dialogue between the man and the little girl. No one knows what death means and yet the narrator is determined to prove the girl wrong. Both the man and the girl are stubborn, clinging to their beliefs about life and death. Logically, however, neither one is wrong. The man is correct in noting that the girl's two siblings are dead. On the other hand, the girl is correct in pointing out that her love for her brother and sister is every bit as alive as it would be if they were, equally as meaningful as her love for her other siblings. Ironically, the narrator emerges as the simple character in Wordsworth's poem. The young girl has a far more complex outlook on life and death than the narrator. Wordsworth explores different perspectives on both life and death in "We are Seven," showing that wisdom and innocence are not mutually exclusive.