22 pages • 44 minutes read
We Are Seven
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Further Reading & Resources
Related Poems
“Anecdote for Fathers” by William Wordsworth (1798)
This poem, which is subtitled “shewing how the art of lying may be taught,” appears immediately before “We Are Seven” in Lyrical Ballads. Like that poem, it features a conversation between an adult and a child, in this case, father and son. The adult asks the boy where he would sooner live, the farm where they are now or at Kilve, their former home by the sea. The boy would sooner be at Kilve, which his father thinks is a strange choice, pressing his son five times to explain himself. Intimidated, the boy makes something up, even though it is obviously not true. Like “We Are Seven,” this poem honors the fact that the child’s reality contradicts that of an adult; however, rather than being able to express it, the boy is persuaded to misrepresent it in the face of an adult’s persistent questioning.
“She dwelt among th’untrodden ways” by William Wordsworth (1798)
This is one of five short poems by Wordsworth about a girl named Lucy who lived in the countryside and died young. The speaker expresses his grief at her passing and celebrates her beauty and specialness: “Fair, as a star when only one / Is shining in the sky!” Like “We Are Seven,” it shows Wordsworth’s deep appreciation of children. It also reflects an adult understanding of death, rather than that of the child.
“Surprised by Joy” by William Wordsworth (1815)
Wordsworth wrote that this sonnet was prompted by the death of his four-year-old daughter Catherine several years earlier, in 1812. When the speaker has a sudden, unexpected moment of joy, he immediately remembers his departed daughter and wants to share the moment with her. Then he wonders how he could ever have forgotten her, even for a moment, and experienced happiness despite her absence. The poem carries on the motif of infant mortality that appears in “We Are Seven,” but with a much sharper, painful edge.
Further Literary Resources
“‘We Are Seven’ and the First British Census” by Hollis Robbins (2010)
Hollins discusses the poem in the context of the first British census, which took place in 1801. When “We Are Seven” appeared in 1798, there was already a debate in England about counting the population and how to do it. Wordsworth’s speaker sounds like a census-taker in a rural area. Part of the debate was about which home should be counted as someone’s dwelling place, since many people, like four of the children in the poem, were members of families but lived elsewhere. Wordsworth’s speaker takes a conservative position, favoring counting all five family members as dwelling in the cottage. This would present a stable picture of the population, minimizing the dislocations caused by the Industrial Revolution.
“A Summary and Analysis of William Wordsworth’s ‘We Are Seven’” by Oliver Tearle
In a stanza-by-stanza analysis, Tearle suggests that the view of the speaker, whom he identifies as Wordsworth himself, may be “too coldly rational in that it allows for no possibility that the dead are still part of our lives.” Tearle also suggests that “there’s a sense in which Wordsworth is inviting us to mock him as the speaker of his poem, for his blinkered and rather uncharitable refusal to see the girl’s point of view.”
Wordsworth: A Life by Juliet Barker (2006)
This biography of Wordsworth gives full weight to his later years as well as presenting an account of the most productive period for his poetry—the 1790s and first decade of the next century. Barker reports that James Tobin, a friend of Wordsworth and Coleridge, whose first name (“Jim”) originally appeared in the first line of “We Are Seven,” urged Wordsworth not to publish the poem, saying that it “will make you everlastingly ridiculous.” Much to Tobin’s dismay, and fortunately for the many thousands of readers who love the poem, Wordsworth refused his friend’s request.
Listen to Poem
Tom O’Bedlam reads Wordsworth’s “We Are Seven,” with the text of the poem appearing on the screen. The video is posted by the SpokenVerse YouTube channel on August 9, 2009.
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By William Wordsworth
