Ode to Intimations of Immortality by words worth...

"Intimations of Immortality" is a lyric poem in the form of an ode. A lyric poem presents deep
feelings and emotions rather than telling a story; an ode uses lofty language and a dignified tone and
may contain several hundred lines.
Composition and Publication Information
.......Wordsworth completed the first four stanzas of "Intimations of Immortality" between March and
April of 1802. He completed the rest of the poem by early 1804. Longman, Hurst, Rees and Orme
published the poem at Paternoster Row, London, in May 1807 as part of a collection of Wordsworth's
works, Poems, in Two Volumes.
Summary of the Poem
.......The entire earth—all its fields and streams and trees—seemed like heaven to me when I was a
child. Now, however, as spring begins to unfold its splendor, I no longer perceive the world this way.
True, there is
much beauty around me: rainbows, roses, moonlight, sunlight, the reflection of the stars on evening
waters. But these sights, magnificent as they are, lack the full glory of what I once saw.
.......At this moment, while the birds sing and the lambs frolic, my inability to perceive the fullness of
this glory makes me sad. But the sounds of nature—the wind and the waterfalls—cheer me as I realize
all the earth is happy, land and sea. Even the beasts revel in the spirit of spring. Shepherd boy, let me
hear your shouts of joy!
.......You creatures of the forest, I hear the calls you make to one another, and I hear the heavens laugh
with you in your joy. I feel your happiness—all of it. How could I be sullen on such a fine May
morning. Children are picking fresh flowers in a thousand valleys, the sun shines brightly, and babies
leap in their mother's arms. But even amid all this joy and wonder, there is a tree and there is a field
that speak to me of something that is missing. So, too, does the pansy at my feet. Where is that
heavenly glory I once perceived?
.......When we are born, our souls—which previously existed in the celestial realm—go to sleep
momentarily. When they awake to the new world around them, they forget almost everything about
their heavenly existence. But a hint of that existence remains in our souls even though the world
begins to enclose us, like prison walls. Still, a growing boy can perceive heavenly light. But when he
becomes a man, the light fades. Earth, without malice, further blinds him to the fullness of the glory
he once knew by exhibiting its own glory. However, although the glory of nature is not equal to
heavenly glory, it is a reflection of it
.......A child of six, while enjoying the kisses of his mother and the admiring gaze of his father, already
begins to plot out the life he will lead and the events he will take part in—a wedding, a festival, a
funeral—and prepares himself for business, love, and strife. He may foresee himself in many roles in
imitation of others, even down to the time when old age overtakes him.
.......The outward appearance of a child belies the immensity of his soul within. That soul, that inner
light, still perceives something of the heavenly presence, still fathoms something of the eternal deep,
even as we adults labor in darkness to discover the truths of the eternal realm. You, child, are the best
seer, prophet, and philosopher. But why do you, with the memory of the glories of heaven within you,
press on so urgently toward adulthood, which dims your inner light and lays its earthly burdens upon
your back?
.......But how heartening it is to know that at least a glimmer of celestial light yet lies within us as
adults and manifests itself in our natural surroundings. I give thanks for my knowledge of how things
are and that nothing can entirely eliminate the awareness in us of the immortal sea that brought us to
the shore of life. So sing, birds, a joyous song of May. Though the time will come when the glories of
spring's fields and flowers will be forever gone from us, we will not grieve; for we know that greater
 glories await us beyond death.
.......I love the fountains, meadows, hills, and brooks—the brilliance of a morning sun and the beauty
of a flower. But I know that the flower is only a hint of what is to come.

Notes

1. as to the tabor's sound: Like the sound of a small drum.

Interpretation
.......Wordsworth's poem expresses the view that the human soul exists first in heaven. When united at
birth with a body, it brings with it impressions of heaven, as the following passage from the poem
indicates:
The Soul that rises with us, our life's Star,
Hath had elsewhere its setting,
And cometh from afar:
Not in entire forgetfulness,
And not in utter nakedness,
But trailing clouds of glory
These “trailing clouds” remain in a growing child as “intimations of immortality,” or memories of his
celestial abode. However, when the child passes into his adolescent and teen years, his increasing
exposure to the material world and the beauty of nature dims his memories of his heavenly beginning.
By the time he enters adulthood, all but the merest recollection of his previous existence disappears.
(In the ancient world, Plato believed that the human soul existed before birth in an incorporeal realm.
Although it possessed vast knowledge, its memory of this knowledge failed after it united with a body
at birth. A human being then occupied himself with restoring this knowledge through education.)
Nevertheless, this faint memory is enough to light for him the path back to heaven:
Those shadowy recollections,
Which, be they what they may,
Are yet the fountain light of all our day,
Are yet a master light of all our seeing

Themes
Children See the Light
.......The speaker of the poem maintains paradoxically that the more a person ages—the more educated
and experienced he becomes—the less he knows about heaven and God. A very young child, on the
other hand, is a fountain of insight and enlightenment about the supernal world. After all, says the
poem's speaker, a child's soul is a recent arrival from paradise. Memories of his heavenly abode are
still vivid to him. He still sees the light of the eternal God.
Faith
.......There is in all of us a heavenly spark that can ignite the fire of faith to support us through troubled
times, keeping alive the thought of reuniting with the Creator in the celestial realm.
Ennui
.......Humans become jaded and world-weary after losing their childhood innocence and enthusiasm.
Meter, Feet, and Line Length
.......Wordsworth uses iambic feet throughout the poem. An iambic foot (or iamb) consists of a pair of
syllables, the first one unstressed and the second stressed. For example, in the fifth line of the first
stanza, the first two syllables (The GLOR) make up the first iambic foot, and the second two syllables
(y AND) make up the second iambic foot. The meter of the poem varies from dimeter to hexameter.
(A line with two iambic feet makes up a dimeter; three feet, a trimeter; four feet, a tetrameter; five
feet, a pentameter; and six feet a hexameter.)
.......Below is a graphic illustrating the iambic feet and meter of each line in the first stanza. Numbers
appear above each iambic foot in the lines on the left. On the right is the name of the meter. Line 1 is
in iambic pentameter, line 2 in iambic tetrameter, line 3 in iambic dimeter, and so on.

.........1...............2.................3.....................4......................5
Pentame
There WAS..|..a TIME..|..when MEAD..|..ow, GROVE,..|..and STREAM,

.........1................2...............3................4.
Tetramet
The EARTH,..|..and EV..|..ry COM..|..mon SIGHT,

.....1..............2
Dimeter
To ME..|..did SEEM

......1..............2.............3...............4
Tetramet
Ap PAR..|..elled IN..|..cel EST..|..ial LIGHT,

........1..............2.................3................4.................5
Pentame
The GLOR..|..y AND..|..the FRESH..|..ness OF..|..a DREAM.

..1.............2.............3.............4..................5
Pentame
It IS..|..not NOW..|..as IT..|..hath BEEN..|..of YORE;

........1....................2.............3
Trimeter
Turn WHERE..|..so E'ER..|..I MAY,
 .......1..............2
Dimeter
By NIGHT..|..or DAY,

..........1...............2.................3................4................5..............6
Hexamet
The THINGS..|..which I..|..have SEEN..|..I NOW..|..can SEE..|..no MORE.

Rhyme
.......The poem uses end rhyme and internal rhyme. The pattern of the end rhyme varies. Note, for
example, the difference between the rhyming pattern of the first stanza and that of the second.
There was a time when meadow, grove, and stream,
The earth, and every common sight,
To me did seem
Apparell'd in celestial light,
The glory and the freshness of a dream. 5
It is not now as it hath been of yore;—
Turn wheresoe'er I may,
By night or day,
The things which I have seen I now can see no more.
The rainbow comes and goes, 10
And lovely is the rose;
The moon doth with delight
Look round her when the heavens are bare;
Waters on a starry night
Are beautiful and fair; 15
The sunshine is a glorious birth;
But yet I know, where'er I go,
That there hath pass'd away a glory from the earth.
Wordsworth uses internal rhyme sparingly but to good effect. Following are examples:
But yet I know, where'er I go (line 17)
Fallings from us, vanishings; 147 (line 147)
Which, be they what they may, (line 155)
Though inland far we be (line 167)

Figures of Speech
.......Examples of figures of speech in the poem are the following:
Alliteration
Repetition of a consonant sound
From God, who is our home (line 66)
Behold the Child among his new-born blisses (line 86)
See, at his feet, some little plan or chart,
Some fragment from his dream of human life (lines 91 and 92)
Anaphora
Repetition of a word, phrase, or clause at the beginning of word groups occurring one after the other
Ye that pipe and ye that play,
Ye that through your hearts to-day (lines 177-178)
Apostrophe
Addressing an abstraction or a thing, present or absent, or addressing an absent person or entity
And O ye Fountains, Meadows, Hills, and Groves,
Forebode not any severing of our loves! (lines 192-193)
Metaphor
Comparison between unlike things without using like, as, or than
The cataracts blow their trumpets from the steep (line 25)
(Comparison of waterfalls to musicians)
The Soul that rises with us, our life's Star (line 60)
(Comparison of the soul to a guiding star)
Paradox
Contradictory statement used to express a truth
Those shadowy recollections,
Which, be they what they may, 155
Are yet the fountain-light of all our day,
Are yet a master-light of all our seeing
(Shadows are a source of light)
Personification
Comparison of a thing to a person
The Moon doth with delight
Look round her when the heavens are bare (lines 12-13)
(These lines compare the moon to a person experiencing delight)
Land and sea
Give themselves up to jollity (lines 30-31)
(These lines compare the land and the sea to jolly persons)
Earth fills her lap with pleasures of her own;
Yearnings she hath in her own natural kind,
And, even with something of a mother's mind,
And no unworthy aim,
The homely nurse doth all she can
To make her foster-child, her Inmate Man,
Forget the glories he hath known,
And that imperial palace whence he came. (lines 78-85)
(This stanza compares earth to a woman—in particular, to a mother and a nurse)
Synecdoche
Substitution of a part to stand for the whole, or the whole to stand for a part
thou eye among the blind (line 112)
("Eye" represents a child who guides adults)
Study Questions and Writing Topics
1. Have you ever had "intimations of immortality"? If so, explain the nature of them.
2. The poem says a child is a "Mighty prophet" (line 111). What does a child foretell?
3. Is conscience a form of inborn knowledge?
4. In an essay, compare and contrast Plato's belief in the pre-existence of the soul with Wordsworth's
belief on the same topic.