"My heart leaps up when I behold" - William Wordsworth

With the “Romantic Period” came a new form of emotional and lyrical poetry; those poems were much different than the literature present during the time of the Enlightenment. A man who secured the most foundational name in Romanticism literature by writing such poems was William Wordsworth.

The poem “My heart leaps up when I behold” is an example of one of Wordsworth's popular works. From a formalistic approach, Wordsworth’s use of imagery and verse structure reveal the poem’s overall themes of the passage of time and nature.

In an attempt to convey the time theme and set the tone for “My heart leaps up when I behold,” Wordsworth added dramatic images. Using rich vocabulary words to demonstrate the speaker’s longing for his childhood is a favored literary device of the author. At the end of the reading, the speaker uses the phrase “natural piety” to describe the connection he wishes to make between his past and present lives (9). When most people read the word “piety,” a religious association to “religious piety” is made. Wordsworth used that word with the hopes that people would relay that powerful image of devoutness into the character’s specific circumstance. He wanted to stress the importance of the strong bond the narrator wants with his more youthful self. 

The speaker also wastes no time introducing his love for nature and implementing imagery as a key literary element. The first two lines in the poem make both messages clear to readers: “My heart leaps up when I behold A rainbow in the sky” (1-2). Wordsworth chose that image as the opening lines because, although it contains simple vocabulary and plainly states the comparison, it sets the tone for the rest of the work. The imagery is straightforward in telling readers how the speaker cannot imagine seeing the first hint of a rainbow and not becoming overjoyed. One can assume that this fascination by nature is something that originated in his childhood and is something that he has not grown out of; most others, however, grow up and overlook the simplicity of nature in life.

The poem’s structure is guided entirely by time. The author specifically mentions the beginning and ending of human life instead of deeming those specifics unimportant and leaving the rest to the imagination. For example, in the middle of the poem, the narrator refers to the circle of life: “So is it now I am a man; So be it when I shall grow old” (4-5). That quote reveals the passage of time through the inevitable process of aging. Not long after those lines, the reader finds out exactly why the narrator dreads going through such a normal part of life. When he said, “The Child is the father of the Man,” he was explaining how he views a child as a better teacher of an adult than vice versa (7). With the innocence of children comes an appreciation for nature and a fresh outlook on life that diminishes every day, instead of growing. The entire poem encourages everyone to avoid getting older on the inside (since age obviously shows in people’s physical features) by staying young at heart. - Emily Alves