"My Heart Leaps Up" is a short lyric poem by the Romantic poet William Wordsworth. It was written on March 26, 1802 (while Wordsworth was living at Dove Cottage in the scenic Lake District of northern England, according to the diary his sister Dorothy kept of their day-to-day lives), and later published in 1807 as part of Wordsworth's Poems, in Two Volumes. Like many of his poems from this period, "My Heart Leaps Up" was inspired by nature, as the speakers describes the feeling of joy upon seeing a simple rainbow. The poem also appreciates the importance of carrying child-like enthusiasm and wonder throughout life, an idea that Wordsworth returns throughout much of his work.
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The Full Text of “My Heart Leaps Up”
1My heart leaps up when I behold
2 A rainbow in the sky:
3So was it when my life began;
4So is it now I am a man;
5So be it when I shall grow old,
6 Or let me die!
7The Child is father of the Man;
8And I could wish my days to be
9Bound each to each by natural piety.
The Full Text of “My Heart Leaps Up”
1My heart leaps up when I behold
2 A rainbow in the sky:
3So was it when my life began;
4So is it now I am a man;
5So be it when I shall grow old,
6 Or let me die!
7The Child is father of the Man;
8And I could wish my days to be
9Bound each to each by natural piety.
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“My Heart Leaps Up” Summary
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“My Heart Leaps Up” Themes
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The Importance of Childhood Wonder
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The Beauty and Comfort of Nature
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Line-by-Line Explanation & Analysis of “My Heart Leaps Up”
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Lines 1-2
My heart leaps up when I behold
A rainbow in the sky: -
Lines 3-6
So was it when my life began;
So is it now I am a man;
So be it when I shall grow old,
Or let me die! -
Line 7
The Child is father of the Man;
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Lines 8-9
And I could wish my days to be
Bound each to each by natural piety.
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“My Heart Leaps Up” Symbols
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The Rainbow
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“My Heart Leaps Up” Poetic Devices & Figurative Language
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Enjambment
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Anaphora
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Allusion
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Personification
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Paradox
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Assonance
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Consonance
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“My Heart Leaps Up” Vocabulary
Select any word below to get its definition in the context of the poem. The words are listed in the order in which they appear in the poem.
- Behold
- bound
- Piety
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Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme of “My Heart Leaps Up”
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Form
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Meter
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Rhyme Scheme
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“My Heart Leaps Up” Speaker
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“My Heart Leaps Up” Setting
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Literary and Historical Context of “My Heart Leaps Up”
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More “My Heart Leaps Up” Resources
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External Resources
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The Journals of Dorothy Wordsworth — Dorothy kept a detailed diary of the days she spent living with her brother William in Dove cottage. Some entries reveal the context and inspiration for many of the poems in Wordsworth's 1807 collection.
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Preface to the Lyrical Ballads — Read Wordsworth's famous essay in which he defends and clarifies his ideas about poetry and articulates some ideals of the Romantic movement.
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Preface to the Lyrical Ballads Analysis — Get LitChart's analysis of Preface to the Lyrical Ballads, so you can fully understand it.
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Childhood and Romanticism — Article from the British Library expanding upon Romantic ideas about childhood.
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The Poem Out Loud — Listen to a recording of "My Heart Leaps Up."
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LitCharts on Other Poems by William Wordsworth
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