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By William Shakespeare
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By John Milton
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By Andrew Marvell
- Bermudas (1653)
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By William Wordsworth
- The World is Too Much with Us (1807)
- We are Seven (1798)
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By Joseph Conrad
- Heart of Darkness (1902)
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1A Simple Child, dear brother Jim,
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;
12Her 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 above, 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!”
Eight years old is a biblical allusion. God created Earth in seven days. The eight day (or year) would be the afterlife.
This is very harsh language for a child. The narrator is assumed to be an adult, but is still arguing with a child.
The picture of innocence. Not merely a "child", but a "simple" one. "Simple" is the opposite of complex, which might represent society? Or maybe just adulthood.
I think that this is a pretty interesting observation. I usually pay close attention to words like this, they are often intentionally misleading
Biblical allusion; God created Man on the fifth day--according to Genesis. By having the master posit that the brothers and sisters are only five in the setting of this poem, perhaps, he suggests that the simple child (with her "master") is not where Man is; the brothers and sisters may be in the kingdom of Heaven--with the master of all--God/the master.
seems to be a symbol for God; the two children rest under his protection now.
The contrast of childhood and death is interesting. Chronologically, childhood is as far from death as possible, but if you look at life and death from a cyclical point of view, childhood comes "after" death. Also reminds of the commonality between the very young and the very old - both are supposed to be wise and helpless, both close to non-existence.
Wordsworld could mean the repitition of fair and very fair to make the word fair have two meanings. The girl could have "fair" eyes to mean that she had light colored eyes. It could also mean that her eyes were fair as in beautiful. The repetition of fair could emphasis that her eyes were fair to make her seem errie. Her fair eyes represent her oracle like vision to the other world -- of the dead. Or as Meredith Pierce thinks Wordsworth just repeated the word fair because he ran out of words to keep the meter of the poem.
"Lightly" seems an odd description for a child who defies even the most simple subtraction of her master so adamantly. But "feels its life in every limb" suggests that the child has a deeper understanding of life than what can be explained by the speaker's basic logic.
Leonardo Davinci's Traditional symbol of youth and vitality. The curls are found all over nature.
He keeps insisting that they are not a part of her, she runs above them.
This supports an interpretation of this poem as a biblical allegory. I believe that in Revelation, the number eight is relevant. The little Girl declares that her brothers and sisters, although two are dead, are now seven, which implicates further that the setting is in the kingdom of Heaven on Earth after the Revelation occurs--the living and dead have been judged. But the children (the innocents), the brothers and sisters--men and women, the dead and the living, all assume a place in the kingdom of Heaven on Earth.
Some of the tags on feminine rhyme are wrong. I can't delete them. Sorry.
He appreciates her as an aesthetic. He idolizes and dotes on her with heavy description. She is inspiring.
refers to herself and her siblings as one entity
7 deadly sins. Yay for the Biblical Bandwagon!
Anything special about "Conway"? Is this a real place?
I imagine the limbs as things that have a life of their own.
I like this observation too. I think it's clever and insightful
breath alludes to life, like the breath of life or the first breath in a new life
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