Williams Woodsworth

In the poem We Are Seven , he writes of a little eight year old girl he meets while on a walk.
In the first stanza he writes “A simple child, dear brother Jim, That lightly draws it’s breath,And feels its life in every limb, What should it know of death?” (200) To me, he views the innocence of this child. Being so very young has much to learn about life, especially that of death. A child that age has so much to offer and need not think of the end coming so soon.

Initially, he describes the child as “simple,” but as the poem progresses, she gets quite more complex. As he asks how many siblings she has, he realizes that two of them have died. She replies "Seven are we." (200) She later explains that "Two of us in the church-yard lie." In his shallow mind, two of her siblings were not physically there so he considers that as being five. As the poem goes on, I'm sure he realized that the child knows more about death than he gave her credit for. Her reply to his puzzlement was "Their graves are green, they may be seen," and goes on to say "..there upon the ground I sit-I sit and sing to them."(201) In this child's mind, her siblings, having already been decease, still remain with her. When mentioned that "their graves are green" allows me to know that she keeps the memories and feelings that she once shared with them alive in her heart. She commemorates their lives by constantly singing to them as she does everyday tasks, such as sitting near their gravesite. The elder still has a hard time fathoming the concept of how she could continue to say that seven siblings exist when in fact there are just five. She replies by letting him know that “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!” (201)

This poem may have been personal for Wordsworth considering the fact that he too lost two people; his own parents. He probably kept the memories of his loved ones alive in his heart whereas they would never leave him. Many people I feel, can relate to this poem. Sometimes it hard to actually let a loved one go and we have to constantly remind ourselves that even though they may not physically be with us, their love and memories will forever reside.