Text analysis
“My heart leaps up”
Approaching Literary Genres p. 38
Millennium
•
FOCUS ON THE
MEANING
1. What sight moves the poet?
• The sight of a rainbow in the sky.
2. Highlight
in yellow the expressions that indicate the periods of his life the poet
refers to in the poem. What are they?
• He refers to:



childhood (“when my life began”, line 3)
adulthood (“now I am a man” line 4)
old age (“when I shall grow old” line 5).
3. What does the poet mean by the expression highlighted in blue
?
Give reasons for your choice/s:

The child and the man are the same thing

There is a natural progression from child to man

The emotions felt as a child last forever.
This line (“The Child is Father of the Man” line 7) is very complex. All of the three
meanings are acceptable:
–
“The child and the man are the same thing” means that the identity of child and
man is the same. They are not something different in nature.
–
“There is a a natural progression from child to man” means that, contrary to the
usual approach (the man is the father of the child) , the child is the starting point
and man develops out of child.
–
“The emotions felt as a child last forever” means that the emotional life of man is
created and developed by his experiences as a child
4.
•
•
•
What is the poet’s final wish?
He wishes to be able to live a life unified by “natural piety” (line 9), that is to say,
he feels a sense of belonging to nature, and therefore he loves and respects it.
the theme of contact with nature is central to Romanticism.
FOCUS ON THE
5.
a.
•
b.
•
c.
•
d.
•
e.
•
f.
•
LINE LENGTH
Look up the underlined words in a dictionary and divide them into syllables.
behold
be / hold
rainbow
rain / bow
began
be / gan
Father
Fa / ther
natural
nat / u / ral
piety
pi / e / ty
6.
6.
7.
Look at the syllable division indicated in the first line (/) to complete the division
into sillables of the poem’s lines.
My / heart / leaps / up / when / I / be / hold
(8 syllables)
A / rain / bow / in / the / sky:
(6 syllables)
So / was / it / when / my / life / be / gan;
(8 syllables)
So / is / it / now / I / am / a / man,
(8 syllables)
So / be / it / when / I / shall / grow / old,
(8 syllables)
Or / let / me / die!
(4 syllables)
The / child / is / Fa / ther / of / the / Man;
(8 syllables)
And / I / could / wish / my / days / to / be
(8 syllables)
Bound / each / to / each / by / nat / u / ral / pi / e / ty
(11 syllables)
The lines of the poem have a different number of syllables. Write it for each line.
a.
b.
‒
‒
Which is the shortest line?
Which is the longest?
The shortest line is line 6
The longest line is line 9.