Compare and Contrast how the central child characters in the poems, "We are seven" and Mid-term Break" deal with the experience of death in childhood.

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Compare and Contrast how the central child characters in the poems, “We are seven” and Mid-term Break” deal with the experience of death in childhood.

In this assignment I will analyse two poems, ‘Mid-term break’ and ‘We are Seven’ and study the ways in which each of the children in the poems deal with the death of a family member. In Seamus Heaney’s poem, ‘Mid-term break’, he shares his thoughts about the death of his little brother and his feelings on the wake and the funeral. In William Wordsworth’s poem, ‘We are Seven’ we learn how a little girl reacts to the death of her brother and sister and her attitude to her experience of death.

The first poem I will analyse is ‘We are Seven’ written by William Wordsworth. William Wordsworth is a famous pre-nineteenth century English poet. He was one of the most accomplished and influential of England's romantic poets, whose theories and style created a new tradition in poetry.

Wordsworth was born on April 7, 1770, in Cockermouth, Cumbria, and educated at St John's College, Cambridge University. He developed a keen love of nature as a youth, and frequently visited places noted for their scenic beauty. Poetry, he believed, originates from “emotion recollected in tranquillity”. He began to write his own unique style of poetry, he abandoned the dull, wordy, intellectual style used by previous poets and adapted his own simplified poetry which was suitable for everyone, poems about the glory of the world, the beauty of nature and the mysteries of life. By doing this however, critics attacked his work and style. Wordsworth, however, was not discouraged, continuing to write poetry that spun his imagination. As he advanced in age, Wordsworth's poetic vision and inspiration dulled; his later poems cannot be compared to the lyrics of his youth. To Wordsworth, God was everywhere in the harmony of nature, and he felt the connection between nature and the soul. Critical opinion turned in his favour after 1820, and Wordsworth lived to see his work universally praised. In 1842 he was awarded a government pension and became Poet Laureate. He died at Rydal Mount, on April 23, 1850, and was buried in the Grasmere churchyard.

“We are Seven” isn’t one of Wordsworth’s most acclaimed poems but it still reflects his unique and colourful style of poetry.

“We are seven” is a poem based on a conversation Wordsworth had with a little girl who lost four of her siblings. Two died and two were sent to work at sea. On first reading, I thought the title was quite deceptive. “We Are Seven,” gave me the impression of a close group of people working together like a team. But despite the fact that all the siblings aren’t still together, the little girl still maintains that they are still seven. Wordsworth himself questions the idea - four aren’t really a part of the group as they’re dead and gone –shouldn’t it be “we were seven? Well, according to the girl, “we are seven”, whether alive, dead or away from home. This is the main idea of the poem. Does the little girl really understand the concept of death?

The first three lines of the poem show the beauty of “a simple child, that lightly draws it breath and feels it’s life in every limb,” Wordsworth highlights the energy and vitality of life in its most innocent form. He portrays the child as someone who is energetic and full of life.

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Line four is a rhetorical question, “What should it know of death?” and it is also the first mention of death in the poem. It is a sharp contrast between the first three lines of the poem and the title which were so bright and fresh. Thus, Wordsworth has the reader of the poem gripped by the introduction of death, as he emphasises the question in the beginning stanza.

        Stanza two introduces us to the “little cottage girl”.  She is eight years old with thick curly hair that is” clustered around her head.” Again, we see Wordsworth’s love for nature and ...

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