There was a Boy Analysis

There was a Boy; ye knew him well, ye cliffs

And islands of Winander!--many a time,

At evening, when the earliest stars began

To move along the edges of the hills,

Rising or setting, would he stand alone,

Beneath the trees, or by the glimmering lake;

And there, with fingers interwoven, both hands

Pressed closely palm to palm and to his mouth

Uplifted, he, as through an instrument,

Blew mimic hootings to the silent owls,

That they might answer him.--And they would shout

Across the watery vale, and shout again,

Responsive to his call,--with quivering peals,

And long halloos, and screams, and echoes loud

Redoubled and redoubled; concourse wild

Of jocund din! And, when there came a pause

Of silence such as baffled his best skill:

Then, sometimes, in that silence, while he hung

Listening, a gentle shock of mild surprise

Has carried far into his heart the voice

Of mountain-torrents; or the visible scene

Would enter unawares into his mind

With all its solemn imagery, its rocks,

Its woods, and that uncertain heaven received

Into the bosom of the steady lake.

This boy was taken from his mates, and died

In childhood, ere he was full twelve years old.

Pre-eminent in beauty is the vale

Where he was born and bred: the churchyard hangs

Upon a slope above the village-school;

And, through that church-yard when my way has led

On summer-evenings, I believe, that there

A long half-hour together I have stood

Mute--looking at the grave in which he lies!

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definitely taking this too literally. yall have no analysis of the deeper meaning.

| Posted on 2009-09-29 | by a guest

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I think this is a beautiful elegy to a young boy who died too soon. The boy was apparently very attuned to nature and Wordsworth recognized this and by visiting the boy's grave tries to capture some of the boy's innate ability to feel nature by standing mute beside the grave.

| Posted on 2009-09-11 | by a guest

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I think were meant to analyse it ourselves???
Well I think that. along with many of Wordsworth's poems, there is a theme of untimeley death, youth connected with nature and he has written many elegys.
He is a very skillful writer but you always have to interpret his poems, the meanings are never written clear to see. x

| Posted on 2009-05-26 | by a guest

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YOU GUYS DONT EVER EVER EVER HAVE ANYALYSIS....liars:(

| Posted on 2009-04-28 | by a guest