My Heart Leaps Up Summary analysis

My Heart Leaps Up… (Summary)

The Poem ‘My Heart Leaps Up When I Behold’ is written by William Wordsworth. He is one of the poets who started romanticism in English literature. He expressed his love towards nature in his literary works. According to him “Poetry is spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings: it takes it origin from emotions recollected in tranquility.” In this poem he recollects an experience of his childhood days and gives his emotions and feelings a meaning.

When the poet sees the rainbow in the sky, his heart becomes extremely happy. The situation was same when he was a child. He used to become happy when he saw rainbow in the sky in his child hood. The condition is still same in the present. Now the poet is an adult and his heart still becomes happy when he sees rainbow. He wants his heart to be happy in future also in the same way when he will see the rainbow. And he wishes to die if the happiness in his heart for the rainbow doesn’t remain same when he will become old in future. He thinks that the child is father of the man because a child has all the characteristics that grow along with him and become the characteristics of the man. In the same way a growing man develops the characteristics he showed as a child. So, the poet wishes to tie each of his coming days with the worship and love of nature as childhood.

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Summary and Analysis of "My heart leaps up when I behold" 

In this very short poem consisting of only 9 lines, the speaker begins by declaring that he is moved by nature, and especially by nature's beauty: "My heart leaps up when I behold / A Rainbow in the sky." He goes on to say that he has always felt the impact of nature, even when he was an infant: "So was it when my life began; / So is it now I am a man." The speaker is so certain of his connection with nature that he says it will be constant until he becomes an old man, or else he would rather die: "So be it when I shall grow old, / Or let me die!" In the next line he declares that children are superior to men because of their proximity to nature: "The Child is father of the Man." For this reason, he wishes to bind himself to his childhood self: "And I could wish my days to be / Bound each to each by natural piety."

Analysis




Written on March 26, 1802 and published in 1807 as an epigraph to "Ode: Intimations of Immortality," this poem addresses the same themes found in "Tintern Abbey" and "Ode; Intimations of Immortality," albeit in a much more concise way. The speaker explains his connection to nature, stating that it has been strong throughout his life. He even goes so far as to say that if he ever loses his connection he would prefer to die.
The seventh line of the poem is the key line: "The Child is father of the Man." This line is often quoted because of its ability to express a complicated idea in so few words. The speaker believes (as explained in more detail in "Tintern Abbey") that children are closer to heaven and God, and through God, nature, because they have recently come from the arms of God. The speaker understands the importance of staying connected to one's own childhood, stating: "I could wish my days to be / Bound each to each by natural piety."
Wordsworth chooses the word "piety" to express the bond he wishes to attain (and maintain) with his childhood self, because it best emphasizes the importance of the bond. His readers would have been accustomed to the idea of piety in the religious sense, and would thus have been able to translate the meaning behind the word to an understanding of the power of the bond Wordsworth hopes to attain. 
The format of "My heart leaps up when I behold" gives the poem a somewhat staccato feeling and forces the reader to pause at important points in the poem. For instance, the two short lines of the poem are both quite significant. First, "A rainbow in the sky" harkens back to God's promise to Noah signifying their bond, and foreshadows the speaker's wish to be "Bound...by natural piety." The sixth line, "Or let me die!" shows the strength of the speaker's convictions.

Wordsworth's poem is in the Romantic tradition. Romanticism is characterized by the highly personal interpretation of meaning, is often charged with emotion, and frequently looks to nature for meaning in life. Romantic poets shunned the epic tradition of lauding heroes and kings, an instead embraced subjects that affected the poets on an intimate level, whether spiritually, in literature, in history, or philosophy. 
In this poem, we see the speaker reflecting on the beauty and wonder of nature, of which he is a part:

My heart leaps up when I behold

A rainbow in the sky:

He realizes that he is a part of the vast circle of life, and that the natural world was present at his birth, as he lives, and will go on after he dies. Should it not be so, he shudders to think, life would be pointless:

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 next line refers not only to biological life, but also to spiritual life. We are God's children, the speaker says:

The Child is father of the Man;

Finally, his inward prayer is that he remember the gift and beauty of life and that he might never take such grace and beauty for granted.

And I could wish my days to be

Bound each to each by natural piety.

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