William Wordsworth Questions

"Tintern Abbey"

1. Stanza One: What is the scene that the speaker describes? What mood does it convey?
2. Stanzas Two and Three: What does the speaker mean when he writes "These beauteous forms/Through a long absence, have not been to me/As is a landscape to a blind man's eyes." What sort of comfort has the remembrance of this scene provided him?
3. Stanza Four: What is the difference between the pleasure the speaker took in nature as a child and the pleasure he draws from it now? What does the poet gain from his reflections on the past?
4. Stanza Five: What role does the speaker's "dear friend" (his sister Dorothy) play in the poem? Why is it important that she is present as an addressee? What does her presence imply about the model of the self that Wordsworth offers in "Tintern Abbey"?
5. All: In what sense does "Tintern Abbey" offer readers a "religion of nature"? What are some of the specific ways in which nature works as a substitute for traditional religion?
6. In "The Preface to the Lyrical Ballads" Wordworth says that "poetry is the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings: it takes its origin from emotion recollected in tranquility." How does this poem reflect his definition of poetry?

"We are Seven"

1. How does the first stanza of the poem set up your expectations about the little girl?
2. What is the central point of dispute between the speaker and the little girl? Who is supposed to answer or resolve this dispute?
3. In stanza four, we have the narrator talking directing to the little girl. How does this narration style affect the meaning of the poem? What do we know about the narrator?
4. Who turns out to be the wise one in the poem: the narrator, or the little girl? How do you know?