We Are Seven/ Tintern Abbey

When reading Tintern Abbey, I could not help but draw connections to We Are Seven. In both poems Wordsworth plays with the differences between a child and adult mentality. Upon first reading the concept seems vaguely reminiscent of Blake’s innocence vs. experience: a child existing in one mental state and then at some point in time crossing into another realm of thought. However, Wordsworth depiction of childhood lacks the naiveté of Blake’s Innocence. As Jenn mentions in her post, the child in We Are Seven possesses a contradicting yet perhaps more mature understanding death than the adult counterpart. She is in no way naïve and full comprehends the loss of her siblings yet refuses to be defined by the number and still whenever possible spends time with their graves: “My stockings there I often knit, my kerchief there I hem; And there upon the ground I sit, And sing a song to them” (41-44). Their relationship, as she discusses it, has transcended death to become something beautiful that the adult (Wordsworth?) cannot see.

            Tintern Abbey demonstrates Wordsworth’s progression through life at Tintern Abbey and suggests that his mentality has changed as he has grown and matured. “Though changed, no doubt, from what I was when first I came among these hills…more like a man flying from something that he dreads, than one who sought the thing he loved. For nature then to me was all in all” (66-75). This description depicts, as the footnote states, a young boy’s “purely physical responsiveness.” It is not necessarily that he is naïve, but more that he fails to thoroughly observe and contemplate his surrounding. There is no sense of transcendence or awe at the sublime; the boy merely exists in the joy of the moment, which in itself is beautiful. Wordsworth matures to say, “For I have learned to look on nature, not as in the hour of thoughtless youth; but hearing oftentimes the still, sad music of humanity” (88-91). While quickly following he states that he is “still a lover of the meadows and the woods” (102-103), one cannot help but linger on the “sad music of humanity.” It is initially interesting how though Wordsworth is “looking” at nature, he can “hear” this music. This music seems to represent a connection between humanity and nature that occurs through maturity. However, while the speaker appears glad to have these profound thoughts on nature, I cannot help but harp on the “sad” and see the similarity to the young girl in We Are Seven. It is not that these children are necessarily oblivious, they perhaps just view the world with a simpler perspective that does not need rationality or explanation; it can just exist.