But they are dead; those two are dead!
Their spirits are in heaven!
‘Twas throwing words away; for still
The little Maid would have her will,
And said, ‘Nay, we are seven!’
The final line in the poem ‘And said, ‘Nay, we are seven!’’ underlines the conflicting opinions of the narrator and the girl. This is actually typical of the poem throughout as ‘Then ye are only five’ and ‘What should it know of death?’ are examples of the opposing views which are highlighted by their placement in the structure of the poem. Again, there is repetition, this time of the word ‘dead’, enforcing the narrator’s perception of the Maid’s brother and sister.
Typically the narrators in Wordsworth’s poems are typified as questioning and often meddling characters who seek explanation and reasoning, for example the narrators in ‘The Last of the Flock’ and ‘We are Seven’. In ‘The Last of the Flock’ the narrator meets a farmer crying and asks him why.
He saw me, and turned aside,
As if he wished himself to hide:
Then with his coat he made essay
To wipe those briny tears away.
I follow’d him, and said, ‘My friend
What ails you? Wherefore weep you so?’
This is an encounter between reason and emotion in a public setting identified as a ‘broad highway’. Although the farmer is a stranger to the narrator he has a need to know his predicament. The farmer is in obvious distress and wishes to ‘hide’, but the narrator ‘follow’d him’ and insists on an answer to his curiosity.
In ‘We are Seven’ the girl insists that she co-exists with her dead brother and sister and keeps their memory alive ‘I sit and sing to them’. As the adult narrator maintains his mind set of logic and rationality he becomes increasingly cruel in his case ‘But they are dead; those two are dead!’ As discussed, the repetition highlights the opposing views of the narrator and the girl. However, Wordsworth is not suggesting that either beliefs are wrong, but that the child has an innocent lack of awareness that makes the poem touching as it is clear that to the reader that the girl doesn’t have the same relationship with her siblings as she used to. Interestingly the idea of religion is only mentioned through the voice of the narrator ‘Their spirits are in heaven!’ The girl seems to see death as an end of suffering ‘released her of her pain’, and a necessity ‘My brother John was forced to go’. However, the narrator’s views seem to intrude on the girl’s feelings and assert the difference between five and seven siblings ‘Then ye are only five’.
‘We are Seven’ also highlights the difference between childhood innocence and adult experience, a typical feature of the ‘Lyrical Ballads’. The poem ‘Anecdote for Fathers’ is closely linked to ‘We are Seven’ through this theme. In ‘Anecdote for Fathers’ the narrator asks his son why he prefers the past place ‘Kilve’ to the present place ‘Liswyn Farm’ showing the relationship between the past and the present, a feature of the ‘Lyrical Ballads’. The child cannot think of an adequate reason, and the adult’s forceful insistence ‘And five times did I say to him, / ‘Why Edward, tell me why?’ of a logical explanation for his choice destroys the good mood of the poem as the child lies ‘At Kilve there was no weather-cock / And that’s the reason why’. These two poems show the adults who are caught up in their need for answers and logic learning from the supposed irrationality of childishness and ‘emphasises the importance of adults retaining contact with their childhood selves’. It also demonstrates the relationship between emotion and reason, in which the children, linked with innocence, represent the true force of feeling. In ‘We are Seven’ and ‘Anecdote for Fathers’ the children are unafraid to express their emotions even when faced with the adults’ rational arguments.
There is an emphasis on the senses in the ‘Lyrical Ballads’, for example in the first stanza of ‘We are Seven’ the narrator describes the Maid to ‘feel its life in every limb’. This line displays the concept of the paradox between body and the spirit evident in the differing views of the Maid and the narrator. Whilst the Maid can still feel the life of her dead siblings and continues to accept them in her everyday life ‘And there upon the ground I sit - / I sit and sing to them’, the narrator cannot conceive the presence of the spirit within the body after death. The verb ‘feel’ shows an internal belief for the Maid. Furthermore the poem ‘Lines Written in Early Spring’ is the appreciation of nature on the senses.
I heard a thousand blended notes,
While in a grove I sate reclined,
In that sweet mood when pleasant thoughts
Bring sad thoughts to the mind.
The pleasure the narrator receives from nature is through his senses whilst sat in a ‘grove’. However, the enjoyment is from the smaller and often overlooked parts of nature, such as the ‘primrose’ and the ‘periwinkle’. The narrator gains the most satisfaction from the ‘least motion’ believing that even the smallest things should be appreciated.
The ‘Lyrical Ballads’ subject matter is also very important when establishing typical feature of the poems. They are not poems about nature or the landscape, but about ‘ordinary life’. Due to the process of industrialisation taking place in England in the period in which the ‘Lyrical Ballads’ were written a ‘nostalgia for simple rural society’ began to develop. Wordsworth’s poems are about the rustic, country people previously overlooked in poetry. The characters Wordsworth creates are often solitary characters outside organised society and low in social status. The girl in ‘We are Seven’ is described as a ‘simple child’ and a ‘little cottage girl’, whilst the in ‘The Last of the Flock’ the character the narrator meets is a farmer. In ‘Simon Lee’ the solitary figure is that of an old huntsman who ‘has but one eye left’. ‘Simon Lee’ is a depiction of a man shrunken in physique and circumstances, crippled physically and economically in his old age. There are hints at his former wealth which are contrasted with his current situation
No man like him the horn could sound,
And no man was so full of glee;
Had heard of Simon Lee;
His master’s dead, and no one now
Dwells in the hall of Ivor;
Men, dogs and horses, all dead;
He is the sole survivor.
This verse draw a distinction between his present frailties ‘the weakest in the village’ and the accomplishments of his youth ‘He all the country could outrun’. However, it is not until the end of the poem that true sympathy is felt towards the character of Simon Lee. The narrator sees Simon Lee struggling to uproot a rotten tree stump. The narrator offers his help and with one blow manages to sever the root. Simon Lee weeps his ‘thanks and praises’ in gratitude for the narrator’s help. However, the narrator’s strength also acts as comparison to Simon Lee’s weakness and frailty, contrasting active youth with poverty and old age. The emotion Simon Lee experiences after the help is sharper due to the loss he has suffered. His physical human decline means he is no longer strong enough to look after himself and so his sense of independence and, perhaps, his identity have been lost. It is typical of the ‘Lyrical Ballads’ to focus on loss and responses to loss. For example ‘We are Seven’ features two different responses to death, one rational and logical and one innocent and naïve.
In ‘The Last of the Flock’ the farmer recounts the story of his own loss. He describes how he started his flock, and soon had a family and business ‘And then I married, and was as rich / As I could wish to be’. However, he had ten children to feed and consequently encountered poverty. In order to feed his family he had to sell his flock one by one. When the farmer meets the narrator he is on his way to sell his last lamb ‘Today I fetched it from the rock / It is the last of all my flock’. In ‘The Last of the Flock’ the farmer experiences many aspects of loss – the loss of his livelihood, his dignity, but also a loss of love for his children. He describes ‘how wicked fancies cross’d [his] mind’ as he begins to think of a way to save his flock and prays each day to help him continue to love his children despite his misery ‘I prayed, yet everyday I thought / I loved my children less’. Like ‘Simon Lee’, this is a poignant reflection on loss and poverty and the effect on the human psyche. As the farmer’s flock and family grows then so does his happiness. Nevertheless, he soon finds himself confused as to where his emotional life is founded when he cannot muster the love he knows he possesses for his children, and so his paranoia grows ‘And every man I chanc’d to see, / I thought he knew some ill of me’.
However, ‘The Last of the Flock’ and ‘Simon Lee’ are also political protests on behalf of Wordsworth for the ordinary people about loss and poverty. Although the poems can be seen as sentimental as it shows overwhelming emotion for the farmer, it has an underlying criticism of provisions for the poor. In ‘The Last of the Flock’ the farmer has nothing to feed his children with and so goes to ‘the parish’ to ask for help.
‘Ten children, Sir! Had I to feed,
Hard labour in a time of need
My pride was tamed, and in our grief
I of the parish ask’d relief.
They said I was a wealthy man,
My sheep upon the mountain fed,
And it was fit that thence I took
Whereof to buy us bread:’
‘Do this; how can we give to you,
They cried, ‘what to the poor is due’
Even though the farmer’s children are starving, the parish only gave relief to those who had no property, meaning farmers could not profit from it. Instead, the farmer is advised to sell his sheep resulting in the loss of his flock and an emotional breakdown. This criticism is also evident in ‘Simon Lee’ as the old huntsman has no provisions for his old age, despite his participation in the hunts. Once he could no longer partake in the hunts he cannot be self sufficient as he has nothing to live on except a ‘scrap of land’. Simon Lee is ‘forced to work’ in spite of his age and frailty and has a lack of knowledge about ‘husbandry or tillage’.
There are many characteristics that permeate throughout each of the poems in the ‘Lyrical Ballads’ creating a style fundamentally associated with Wordsworth. These qualities have a number of different intentions, for example the simple language and the reference to ordinary life do not alienate readers from a less educated background. Wordsworth’s intention was for his poetry to be inclusive and the ‘Lyrical Ballads’ are infused with ordinary life, responses to loss, growing old and the fear of death. The poems also celebrate a view of rural life and nature as a solution to industrialisation. Consequently, whilst many of the poems aim to engage readers for entertainment purposes, some poems, such as ‘Last of the Flock’ and ‘Simon Lee’ not only offer a story of ordinary life but they provide political protests on the provisions for the poor and the old.