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William Wordsworth · 1807
My Heart Leaps Up
The full text of William Wordsworth’s poem, what it means in plain words, and its best lines as pictures you can download and share.
- Poet
- William Wordsworth
- Published
- 1807
- First line
- My heart leaps up when I behold
My Heart Leaps Up
William Wordsworth
My heart leaps up when I behold
A rainbow in the sky:
So was it when my life began;
So is it now I am a man;
So be it when I shall grow old,
Or let me die!
The Child is father of the Man;
And I could wish my days to be
Bound each to each by natural piety.
Best lines
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My heart leaps up when I behold
A rainbow in the sky
The Child is father of the Man
Meaning and summary
Seeing a rainbow fills the poet with joy, as it did when he was a child and as it does now he is a man. He hopes he will still feel it when he is old; if he ever loses that wonder, he would rather die.
“The Child is father of the Man”: the child we were shapes the adult we become. He wishes his whole life to be joined by the same simple love of nature.
Form
Nine short lines with a varied rhyme scheme, moving from a single moment to a thought about a whole life.
About the poet
William Wordsworth (1770–1850) wrote it in March 1802 and published it in Poems, in Two Volumes (1807).
Poems
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Questions
About the poem
What does “The Child is father of the Man” mean?
That the experiences and feelings of childhood shape the adult we become.
What is natural piety?
A reverent love of nature, held from childhood.
When was My Heart Leaps Up written?
In March 1802.