The Full Text of “We Are Seven”
1———A simple Child,
2That lightly draws its breath,
3And feels its life in every limb,
4What should it know of death?
5I met a little cottage Girl:
6She was eight years old, she said;
7Her hair was thick with many a curl
8That clustered round her head.
9She had a rustic, woodland air,
10And she was wildly clad:
11Her eyes were fair, and very fair;
12—Her beauty made me glad.
13“Sisters and brothers, little Maid,
14How many may you be?”
15“How many? Seven in all,” she said,
16And wondering looked at me.
17“And where are they? I pray you tell.”
18She answered, “Seven are we;
19And two of us at Conway dwell,
20And two are gone to sea.
21“Two of us in the church-yard lie,
22My sister and my brother;
23And, in the church-yard cottage, I
24Dwell near them with my mother.”
25“You say that two at Conway dwell,
26And two are gone to sea,
27Yet ye are seven! I pray you tell,
28Sweet Maid, how this may be.”
29Then did the little Maid reply,
30“Seven boys and girls are we;
31Two of us in the church-yard lie,
32Beneath the church-yard tree.”
33“You run about, my little Maid,
34Your limbs they are alive;
35If two are in the church-yard laid,
36Then ye are only five.”
37“Their graves are green, they may be seen,”
38The little Maid replied,
39“Twelve steps or more from my mother’s door,
40And they are side by side.
41“My stockings there I often knit,
42My kerchief there I hem;
43And there upon the ground I sit,
44And sing a song to them.
45“And often after sun-set, Sir,
46When it is light and fair,
47I take my little porringer,
48And eat my supper there.
49“The first that died was sister Jane;
50In bed she moaning lay,
51Till God released her of her pain;
52And then she went away.
53“So in the church-yard she was laid;
54And, when the grass was dry,
55Together round her grave we played,
56My brother John and I.
57“And when the ground was white with snow,
58And I could run and slide,
59My brother John was forced to go,
60And he lies by her side.”
61“How many are you, then,” said I,
62“If they two are in heaven?”
63Quick was the little Maid’s reply,
64“O Master! we are seven.”
65“But they are dead; those two are dead!
66Their spirits are in heaven!”
67’Twas throwing words away; for still
68The little Maid would have her will,
69And said, “Nay, we are seven!”
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“We Are Seven” Introduction
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The English poet William Wordsworth wrote and published “We Are Seven” in 1798. This poem first appeared in Lyrical Ballads, a poetry collection that contains works by both Wordsworth and his friend and collaborator Samuel Taylor Coleridge. While it was originally published anonymously, Lyrical Ballads was highly influential and is now widely considered the springboard for British Romanticism. Indeed, the speaker of “We Are Seven” debates a young girl who believes that her two deceased siblings should be counted among her family members, staging a battle between and emotion and logic that is typical of Romantic concerns. The speaker and the child never reach an agreement, leaving behind additional questions about the nature of death and the power of familial bonds.
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“We Are Seven” Summary
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The speaker wonders what a sweet, living, breathing child, who is totally full of vitality, might know about death.
The speaker explains that he once met a little girl who lived in the countryside. She was eight years old and had thick, curly hair.
The child’s appearance reflected her rural upbringing and was somewhat disheveled. She had very lovely eyes and her beauty charmed the speaker.
The speaker asked the little girl how many children were in her family. She replied that there were seven children in total and looked at the speaker curiously.
He then asked the little girl to tell him where all these children lived. The girl explained that, of the seven children, two lived in Conway (in the UK) and two were away at sea.
The girl then clarified that two additional siblings—one brother and one sister—were buried in the churchyard, and that she and her mother lived in a nearby cottage.
Confused, the speaker asked the sweet little girl to explain how there could be seven children in her family if she only had two siblings who live in Conway and two who were at sea.
The little girl repeated that there were, in fact, seven children in her family, because two of them were lying beneath a tree in the churchyard.
The speaker retorted that the little girl herself was able to run all around because she was alive, so if two of her siblings were lying in the churchyard cemetery, there were really only five children in her family.
The little girl noted that new plant life sprouted from her siblings' graves. Moreover, she could see and visit them, as her brother and sister were buried side-by-side just steps away from the cottage that she shared with her mother.
The girl then described how she liked to spend time with her deceased siblings—knitting, sewing her handkerchief, and singing them songs as she sat on the ground by their graves.
She went on to explain that when it was nice outside after sunset, she would often take a small bowl out to the churchyard and eat her supper by their graves.
The child then told the speaker that her sister, Jane, was the first to die. Jane had been sick and laid in bed, crying in pain, until God took her out of her misery and she left.
As such, Jane was buried in the churchyard, and the little girl and her brother, John, would play by her grave when the weather allowed.
But one winter, when the ground was covered in slippery, white snow that little girl could play in, John also passed away and was buried next to Jane.
When the child finished her story, the speaker again asked how many siblings she had, given that Jane and John had gone to heaven. The little girl quickly responded that there were seven children in her family.
The speaker exclaimed that her brother and sister were dead, reiterating that their spirits had gone to heaven. At this point, the speaker felt that he was wasting his words, as the little girl would never stop insisting that there were indeed seven children in her family.
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“We Are Seven” Themes
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Childhood Innocence vs. Adult Understanding
The speaker of “We Are Seven” recalls a conversation with a young girl who insists that there are seven children in her family, despite the fact that two of them have passed away. The speaker insists that, logically, there are now only five children in her family, and portrays the little girl as unable to fully comprehend death. In doing so, the speaker suggests that childhood innocence gives rise to a blissful yet limited understanding of the world, while adults are left to grapple with life’s harsh realities.
The speaker relies on hard knowledge and evidence to argue that the girl is one of five siblings. He repeatedly cites numbers and encourages the girl to count her siblings multiple times. The speaker also contrasts the girl's physical liveliness with her siblings’ stillness in death, saying, “You run about, my little Maid, / Your limbs they are alive.” Here, the speaker takes a scientific approach, again relying on his adult knowledge and worldly experience—things the innocent little girl does not possess—in order to make his point.
The speaker also takes care to exaggerate the girl's youth in order to undermine her own take on her family. He introduces her as “a simple Child” and refers to her as “it.” He is quick to point out that “she [is] eight years old” and suggests that her youthfulness discredits her perspective on death, posing the question, “What should it know of death?” The speaker goes on to call her “little Maid” throughout the poem (while he is “Sir” and “Master”), again calling attention to their age disparity as the root of her perceived ignorance; that is, the speaker sees her youthful innocence as making her unable to grasp the reality of the world. She may be happy, but, in the speaker's mind, she is also simply wrong about the way the world works.
The speaker thus repeatedly brushes off her logic, implying that it isn’t credible even as the girl spends a great deal of time explaining all the ways that she continues to interact with her deceased siblings’ memories. She also points out that her siblings are buried nearby, just “twelve steps or more from [her] mother’s door,” implying how close she feels to them even in death. Yet the speaker simply restates his earlier points, disregarding her reasoning.
The child is equally persistent, but the speaker suggests that she is simply blind to the truth. As the poem draws to a close, he mentions that trying to explain death to the child is like “throwing words away.” To put it differently, the speaker decides that she, as an innocent child, is simply incapable of following his logic.
While both characters are certain about their conclusions, the speaker makes clear that his perspective is based in facts and figures, while hers results from a lack of experience. Still, they never reach an agreement and their conversation apparently haunts the speaker long after its conclusion. As such, the reader is left to determine for themselves whether the acceptance of difficult truths in adulthood is necessarily more favorable than an innocent, blissful worldview.
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The Nature of Death
The speaker stands by his understanding of death as something that definitively severs people from life. The young girl, on the other hand, proposes that death is the transformation of life rather than its loss—that it is part of a larger natural cycle and, as such, that the dead remain closely connected to the living world. These two perspectives are held in tension throughout the poem, without a clear resolution as to the nature of death and what death means for those left behind.
The speaker maintains that death definitively breaks one’s ties with the living. Thus, when the girl remarks that there are seven children in her family, the speaker disagrees. He counts only her living siblings and asks her to explain how there can be seven children in her family.
The girl goes on to explain that they are buried nearby and that she regularly spends time by their graves. The speaker remains incredulous, however, insisting, “those two are dead! / Their spirits are in heaven!” The speaker believes that when people die, they are fundamentally cut off from the living, regardless of physical closeness or emotional connection; death is inherently incompatible with life, and the dead basically cease to exist.
The girl pushes back against this idea, however, instead seeing death as a kind of transformative experience. Although her siblings have passed away, the girl still feels a strong kinship with them because they are buried just steps from her home. Indeed, she visits them “often” to play games and sing to them. The girl, then, sees her siblings as integrated with her daily life—extensions of her household—and in doing so blurs the line between life and death.
The girl's consistent use of the present tense further reflects the fact that she sees each of her siblings as an active presence in the living world. For instance, she says her deceased brother and sister “in the church-yard lie." And although the girl “feels [...] life in every limb,” she refers to herself in the same terms as her deceased brother and sister, remarking, “We are seven.”
The girl also imagines death as a removal of pain or an insertion of distance rather than as some severing event. Recounting her sister’s death, she says, “God released her of her pain,” and both of her deceased siblings are said to have simply gone “away.”
Finally, the girl uses natural imagery to present her siblings’ death as one phase within a larger life cycle, furthering the idea that death is a transformation of life and not its loss. In particular, she points out that her brother died in winter, a difficult time for many species that is associated with dormancy and death. Yet she also explains that there are still seven children in her family because “[her siblings’] graves are green.” New grass can be interpreted as a sign of springtime and new life. All this subtly suggests that death is one stage within the circle of life—an element within a larger, ongoing natural cycle, much like the seasons that continuously fade into one another.
Ultimately the girl's account of her siblings’ ongoing presence suggests that death is a central part of life and should be treated as such. This perspective challenges the conventional views of the speaker, who contends that death is the loss of life—a total severance from the living. Their differences are never resolved, leaving the reader to consider the question for themselves.
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Family Bonds
Despite pressure from the speaker to say otherwise, the young girl insists that her deceased siblings are still members of her family. The fact that she maintains a strong relationship with her siblings, even after they have passed away, suggests that familial bonds have lasting power.
The girl maintains a close connection with her deceased brother and sister, who remain central to her everyday life and sense of self. The girl visits them at the church-yard where they are buried and integrates their memories with her day-to-day activities. For instance, she “often” does her knitting and sewing while sitting by their graves. She will even sing to her siblings and eat dinner beside them, clearly still feeling connected to them even in death.
The girl also refers to herself and her siblings as a group, repeatedly using “we” and “us.” Such collective language indicates that she sees herself as part of a larger family unit, which persists even in death. In fact, she uses the same language to describe all of her siblings, living and dead alike. She says to the speaker, "And two of us at Conway dwell, / And two are gone to sea. // Two of us in the church-yard lie." As such, the speaker portrays her departed brother and sister as equally present in her life as her surviving siblings are.
Finally, the girl points out the closeness between other members of her family. She twice refers to the fact that her brother and sister lie “side by side,” and she even describes playing at her sister’s grave with her brother. She also repeatedly mentions that they are buried just steps away from her mother’s home. The girl emphasizes the connections between various members of her family, illustrating that familial bonds remain strong after a member dies.
The girl never caves to the speaker’s claims that she is one of five children, because that is simply not her reality. The child feels, believes, and behaves as if she is one of seven. In this way, she suggests that families share unbreakable bonds that are central to one’s identity.
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Line-by-Line Explanation & Analysis of “We Are Seven”
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Lines 1-4
———A simple Child,
That lightly draws its breath,
And feels its life in every limb,
What should it know of death?As the poem opens, the speaker wonders aloud what a living, breathing child would know about death. The speaker uses very delicate language to describe such a child, who breathes "lightly" and is full of life "in every limb." The consonance among muted, euphonic /l/, /f/, /th/, and /s/ sounds in this passage contributes to its gentle feel. Meanwhile, assonant short /ih/ and long /i/ sounds draw the reader in and create a sense of harmony:
———A simple Child,
That lightly draws its breath,
And feels its life in every limb,
What should it know of death?In light of this calm, idyllic atmosphere, it might come as a surprise when the final word in this stanza reveals that the poem's subject is death. In fact, the end rhyme between "breath" and "death" directly contrasts the liveliness of the child with an understanding of death. As such, the poem's initial quatrain creates tension between childhood frivolity and the grim realities of death.
In doing so, the speaker suggests that the child who will appear in the coming lines does not have a strong grasp of death. Moreover, the speaker uses a rhetorical question ("What should it know of death?") to raise doubts about the child's credibility. Plus, the language that he uses to describe the child—particularly "simple" and "it"—dehumanize and belittle the girl before she is even introduced.
Finally, the opening lines begin to establish the poem's form. Here is a look at their iambic (unstressed-stressed) meter:
———A simple Child,
That lightly draws its breath,
And feels its life in every limb,
What should it know of death?These lines also establish the poem's ABCB rhyme scheme. As such, this quatrain resembles a ballad.
That said, ballads typically alternate between lines of eight and six syllables, and the first line of this stanza contains only four. Therefore, the dashes that precede it suggest that the poem starts midway through the line, transporting the reader directly into the speaker's daydream, thought, or recollection.
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Lines 5-12
I met a little cottage Girl:
She was eight years old, she said;
Her hair was thick with many a curl
That clustered round her head.
She had a rustic, woodland air,
And she was wildly clad:
Her eyes were fair, and very fair;
—Her beauty made me glad.
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Lines 13-16
“Sisters and brothers, little Maid,
How many may you be?”
“How many? Seven in all,” she said,
And wondering looked at me. -
Lines 17-24
“And where are they? I pray you tell.”
She answered, “Seven are we;
And two of us at Conway dwell,
And two are gone to sea.
“Two of us in the church-yard lie,
My sister and my brother;
And, in the church-yard cottage, I
Dwell near them with my mother.” -
Lines 25-32
“You say that two at Conway dwell,
And two are gone to sea,
Yet ye are seven! I pray you tell,
Sweet Maid, how this may be.”
Then did the little Maid reply,
“Seven boys and girls are we;
Two of us in the church-yard lie,
Beneath the church-yard tree.” -
Lines 33-40
“You run about, my little Maid,
Your limbs they are alive;
If two are in the church-yard laid,
Then ye are only five.”
“Their graves are green, they may be seen,”
The little Maid replied,
“Twelve steps or more from my mother’s door,
And they are side by side. -
Lines 41-48
“My stockings there I often knit,
My kerchief there I hem;
And there upon the ground I sit,
And sing a song to them.
“And often after sun-set, Sir,
When it is light and fair,
I take my little porringer,
And eat my supper there. -
Lines 49-56
“The first that died was sister Jane;
In bed she moaning lay,
Till God released her of her pain;
And then she went away.
“So in the church-yard she was laid;
And, when the grass was dry,
Together round her grave we played,
My brother John and I. -
Lines 57-64
“And when the ground was white with snow,
And I could run and slide,
My brother John was forced to go,
And he lies by her side.”
“How many are you, then,” said I,
“If they two are in heaven?”
Quick was the little Maid’s reply,
“O Master! we are seven.” -
Lines 65-69
“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!”
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“We Are Seven” Symbols
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Seasons
While this poem is not highly symbolic, the young girl frequently uses seasonal imagery when describing her changing relationship with her siblings that comes to represent the interconnectedness of life and death in the natural world.
In particular, the girl notes the weather conditions during different interactions with her deceased siblings. For instance, her brother passes away “when the ground was white with snow,” reinforcing the symbolic association between winter and death.
When the speaker claims that only living siblings should be counted among her family members, the child responds that her deceased siblings’ “graves are green.” To the child, the emergence of new plant life—a classic image of springtime rebirth—affirms the ongoing presence of her siblings. Again, then, seasonal imagery in the poem reflects its common symbolic resonance: winter is connected to death, and spring with new life.
Moreover, she visits their graves “when the grass [is] dry,” the lack of precipitation (possibly dried up by the sun) signaling that it is summer. She also mentions that it is nice outside after sunset during these times, providing further evidence that she interacts with her deceased siblings in the summer.
Taken all together, the speaker’s use of seasonal imagery when describing her changing relationship with her siblings suggests that she sees each of their deaths as one moment within a larger natural cycle. Following this rationale, “alive” and “dead” are not opposites but rather different states of being, and death is a transformation (rather than a loss) that keeps the child’s brother and sister accessible to her.
Thus, as a symbol of the interconnectedness of life and death, the seasons help the reader better understand the child’s perspective on death as well as her insistence that “we are seven.”
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“We Are Seven” Poetic Devices & Figurative Language
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Anaphora
Anaphora appears throughout the poem, providing structure via repetition to create a logical, easy-to-follow narrative. As an organizational tool, anaphora helps the reader understand what is literally taking place. At the same time, by repeating important words and phrases, anaphora also contributes to the poem's thematic meaning.
The speaker first uses anaphora when introducing the young girl. In the third stanza, he repeats “She” and “Her” at the beginning of successive phrases, offering details about the child's charming appearance. The repetition of these terms keeps the subject of his descriptions clear, focusing the reader’s attention on the child and creating a strong first impression.
Anaphora has a similar effect in lines 33-34, in which the speaker again describes the girl, this time addressing her directly:
“You run about, my little Maid,
Your limbs they are alive;Here, the speaker attempts to explain to the child that she is different from her deceased siblings because she is living—free to move around on earth—while her brother and sister are immobile and buried in the ground. The repetition of the root “You” helps to distinguish the child from her siblings so that she might understand the speaker’s point. In other words, anaphora emphasizes that she is alive (and her siblings are not).
Furthermore, by introducing distinct people, objects, or ideas in the same terms, anaphora can also create or reinforce a connection between them. This effect can be observed in lines 19-23, where variations on “And two of us” introduce the child's various siblings as well as the child herself. Because she uses the same language for all the children in her family—no matter where they live or if they are living at all—the child suggests that each of the seven siblings are equally valid family members.
Later in the poem (lines 41-45), anaphora strings together all the ways in which the child spends time with her deceased siblings. Here, the child tries to explain why her departed brother and sister should be counted among her family members. The repetition of "my" highlights the child's presence at their graves, while the repetition of "And"—which is also an example of polysyndeton—creates the impression of a never-ending list. As such, the reader gets the impression that there is a mountain of evidence that supports the child’s point of view. Therefore, anaphora allows both the speaker and the child to express and substantiate their arguments.
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Aporia
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Assonance
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Consonance
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Diacope
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End-Stopped Line
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Repetition
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“We Are Seven” 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.
- Rustic
- Woodland
- Clad
- Fair
- Maid
- Conway
- Dwell
- Ye
- Kerchief
- Porringer
- 'Twas
- Nay
Rustic-
Having to do with the countryside and rural ways of life. This term can be used positively—to describe charming simplicity—or in a negative way—to suggest an unsophisticated, unworldly backwardness.
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Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme of “We Are Seven”
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Form
"We Are Seven" is a ballad made up of 16 quatrains (four-line stanzas) and a final cinquain (which contains five lines). This longer closing stanza recounts the speaker's final plea to the child—he calls on her to accept that there are now only five children in her family, but she refuses. The shift in structure calls attention to the poem's conclusion, while perhaps subtly reinforcing that their point of disagreement remains unresolved, as an additional line lingers.
Ballads were historically used to transmit stories orally because their bouncy rhythm and use of rhyme makes them easy to remember. Indeed, this poem's structure is orderly and therefore easy to follow. Plus, its repetitiveness reflects the persistence of both the speaker and the child as they debate the number of children in her family. Taking the subject—childhood innocence—into account, the combination of perfect rhymes and a jaunty rhythm gives the poem a nursery rhyme feel, playing on the use of ballads to tell children's stories.
"We Are Seven" is not entirely a traditional folk ballad, however, in that it explores an everyday subject—rather than retelling an exciting, adventurous tale—and occasionally takes liberties with rhyme, meter, and structure. In fact, this poem and others within Lyrical Ballads are largely responsible for reimagining this classic form to suit shifting literary concerns.
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Meter
Like traditional ballads, this poem makes use of common meter: alternating lines of iambic tetrameter and iambic trimeter. This means that it alternates between lines containing six and eight syllables apiece and a da-DUM rhythm that constantly swings back and forth between unstressed and stressed syllables. For example, here is a look at the meter in stanza 3:
She had a rustic, woodland air,
And she was wildly clad:
Her eyes were fair, and very fair;
—Her beauty made me glad.Due to its variations in line length as well as the repeated rises and falls of the iamb, common meter mimics the intonations of natural speech. As such, the poem does not become overly repetitive or exhausting to listen to, despite its long length. Such a natural-sounding cadence also suits the poem's heavy use of dialogue. Moreover, the bounciness of the rhythm has a lighthearted feel that reflects the young girl's childlike innocence and carefree discussion of her siblings' death.
While the adherence to common meter is fairly strict and consistent, slight variations help shift the poem's mood at key points. For example, lines 30-31 begin with stressed syllables:
"Seven boys and girls are we;
Two of us in the church-yard lie,The initial stresses emphasize the child's exasperation that the speaker will not take her at her word, as she insists that there are seven children in her family. Interestingly, the poem's first line also contains only four syllables rather than the customary eight. This half-line, which is preceded by dashes, gives the impression that the poem begins mid-story—or perhaps mid-memory, as if it pops up in the speaker's head and he then reminisces aloud.
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Rhyme Scheme
This poem has an overarching ABAB rhyme scheme, though some stanzas—including the opening lines—more closely resemble the ABCB pattern that is customary for ballads. Here is a look at the rhyme scheme for the first four stanzas:
ABCB DEDE FGFG HIHI
The abundance of rhymes makes the poem memorable and contributes to the childlike, nursery rhyme feel. However, brief deviations from the rhyme scheme highlight the distinct perspectives of the child and the speaker. First, stanza 10 follows ABCB pattern but contains a great deal of internal rhyme:
“Their graves are green, they may be seen,”
The little Maid replied,
“Twelve steps or more from my mother’s door,
And they are side by side.Here, the repetition of sounds that appear within rhyming pairs (such as /gr/, /m/, and long /ay/) reinforce the sonic harmony of internal and end rhymes. Thus, as the child explains the enduring strength of her relationship with her deceased siblings, rhyme reflects the unity and sameness that she feels with them.
The gratifying similarity among rhyme words might seem to conflict with the fact that there is a major disagreement at the center of the poem. But this, too, is something that the speaker addresses through rhyme scheme deviations. In the final stanza, the speaker points out that the child's brother and sister "are dead; those two are dead!" This line does not have a rhyming pair, creating a sense of disharmony that reflects the friction between the speaker and the child's perspectives. Indeed, their disagreement is left unresolved, just as this line is left lingering without a match.
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“We Are Seven” Speaker
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The audience learns limited biographical information about the speaker over the course of the poem. Most notably, when the child refers to him as "Sir," it becomes clear that the speaker is a male adult. Plus, the speaker is taken with the child's "rustic, woodland air," suggesting that he lives in a city and is passing through Conway. One might also infer that he is of a higher socioeconomic class, given that he comments on the child's country ways, and the fact that she calls him "Master."
As the two figures debate how many children are in the young girl's family, the speaker seems to find her charming but dismisses her perspective altogether. Indeed, he believes that personal experiences and emotions are inferior to science and logic—at least when it comes to justifying one's views. He never wavers from his initial assertion that there are now only five children in the girl's family. In fact, the speaker repeatedly insists that she should agree with him, and her refusal to do so haunts him after their conversation ends. From his perspective, she is unable to understand or accept that death has cut her off from her brother and sister, and the fruitlessness of his arguments apparently frustrates him. As such, the speaker appears firm, persistent, and somewhat argumentative.
Wordsworth has said that this poem was inspired by a young girl whom he met while traveling across the English countryside in 1793. However, it would be misguided to immediately assume that Wordsworth shares the speaker's sentiment and worldview. In his Lyrical Ballads and elsewhere, Wordsworth celebrates childhood wonder and nature's power, which he believes cannot be captured by human measurements or reason.
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“We Are Seven” Setting
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This poem is set in Conway (also spelled Conwy), a scenic Welsh town that sits along the River Conwy. The physical backdrop for the speaker's conversation with the child is hazy. The reader might picture the speaker stumbling upon the child while wandering down a rural road or through a garden, or perhaps he is visiting the church near the child's home.
The speaker describes her as a "cottage Girl" who "[has] a rustic, woodland air" and is "wildly clad." Such characterizations emphasize the rural setting and suggest that it enchants the speaker. Still, he disregards the child's point of view, so the repeated reminders that she lives in the countryside subtly signal that he believes rural folks are more naive than their metropolitan counterparts—though perhaps in an admirable or charming way.
On the other hand, if the reader ultimately agrees with the child, the poem can be taken to mean that nature provides a deeper understanding of the world than logic or reason can offer.
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Literary and Historical Context of “We Are Seven”
Literary Context
William Wordsworth wrote "We Are Seven" at the outset of what some critics call his “Great Decade”—the highly productive period from 1798 to 1807 during which Wordsworth wrote many of his most celebrated and influential works. Indeed, Lyrical Ballads, the 1798 collection in which this poem appears, is widely considered the first major volume of British Romantic literature.
The collection was originally published anonymously and contains poems by both Wordsworth and fellow English poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge. Among other features, the collection is notable for its reinvention of the ballad, employing common language, taking up everyday subjects, and experimenting with the form's structure and meter. In slightly later editions (the second in 1800, the third in 1802), the two poets attached their names to Lyrical Ballads, added new works, and reordered the poems. Wordsworth also included his famous Preface, which outlines the major tenants of Romanticism, as a manifesto of sorts.
The Preface argues that industrialization and related forces such as urbanization and mass media were deadening people's minds. Wordsworth believed that poetry could allow them to experience the power of nature, waking people up from those aspects of modernity that were depleting their emotional and intellectual lives. Moreover, Wordsworth was of the opinion that mass culture lead to poorly-developed tastes and a desire for instant gratification. He was against entertainment for entertainment's sake (and profit's sake), and thought poetry should do something more—inspire profound feeling.
Wordsworth's writings can also be seen as a reaction against the Enlightenment ideals of logic and reason above all else. Wordsworth felt that emotion, impression, and creativity were greater forces and that relying on observable evidence was stifling. As a result, Wordsworth's Romanticism championed subjectivity, feeling, imagination, and the beauty of the natural world. Because peasants were constantly interacting with nature, he believed that they were freer and more honest. Accordingly, he preferred common language, or "the real language of men," because it was not beholden to trends or pretensions and was therefore more universal.
Wordsworth and Coleridge had an enormous impact on the themes, styles, and techniques employed by other Romantics. However, the later generation—John Keats ("Bright Star"), Lord Bryon ("She Walks in Beauty"), and Percy Bysshe Shelley ("Ode to the West Wind")—generally considered him something of an establishment sell-out for abandoning his radical leftist political views later in life. Still, as the co-founder of a revolutionary literary movement—not to mention the grandfather of straightforward poetic diction—Wordsworth's influence on the craft cannot be overstated.
Historical Context
Wordsworth's Romanticism is in many ways a response to the Industrial Revolution. Beginning in the 18th century, Britain saw a huge population increase as well as major technological innovations. Believing it was necessary to increase the efficiency and profitability of agriculture, the government took over land ownership. The resulting Enclosure Acts led to the destruction of local farms as people lost their land for redistribution. Those who couldn't afford enclosure costs went to the city in search of factory jobs. When there weren't enough workers to operate farms, mechanization took hold of the agricultural industry as well. This pattern of industrialization and urbanization forever altered natural landscapes.
Still, Wordsworth believed that one could experience unparalleled wisdom, beauty, and profundity in nature. Wordsworth spent a great deal of time exploring the English countryside a child. As a young adult, his travels, particularly in France, further developed his appreciation for the natural world and common people, which would greatly inform his writings. In 1793, he walked across England, and that journey inspired this poem.
Moreover, the strength of familial ties that Wordsworth explores in "We Are Seven" resonates with his own experiences. Wordsworth was an orphan by his teenage years and was incredibly close to his sister, Dorothy, as an adult. The two lived together and Dorothy's own journals, poems, and travel narratives inspired him greatly.
Wordsworth's trips to France also led to an interest in revolutionary politics. However, he become more conservative with age, especially after the French Revolution. His convictions changed during the Reign of Terror, which he saw as an explosion of passion, but in a violent and directionless manner. As a result, he was staunch that, while poetry should be highly passionate, it should also be well-thought-out, featuring what he called "emotion recollected in tranquility."
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More “We Are Seven” Resources
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External Resources
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The Poem Out Loud — Listen to a live recitation of the poem.
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Preface to Lyrical Ballads — A full text of the Preface to the third edition of Lyrical Ballads, the collection in which "We Are Seven" appears. This 1802 essay is considered a key text and manifesto of sorts for the Romantic movement in British literature.
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The Romantics and Nature — One installment of a three-part documentary on the Romantic Era from the BBC and Peter Ackroyd. This episode addresses nature and related subjects such as industrialization and childhood mortality.
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Biography of the Author — A detailed overview of Wordsworth's life and works from the Poetry Foundation.
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First Edition of Lyrical Ballads — Scanned images of a first edition copy of Lyrical Ballads (1798), the collection in which "We Are Seven" appears. Coauthored by Wordsworth and fellow English poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge, this collection in many ways precipitated British Romanticism.
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The Romantic Period — An overview of the Romantic Period, with links to information on related historical events (e.g., the Industrial Revolution).
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LitCharts on Other Poems by William Wordsworth
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