The Affliction of Margaret
By William Wordsworth
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William Wordsworth
• William Wordsworth (1770-1850) is one of the most
popular English poets.
• He is credited with beginning the Romantic movement in
English poetry
• Romantic poets sought pastoral subjects not urban and
tried to use ‘real’ rather than formal language
[Romanticism is] the
spontaneous overflow of
powerful feelings
composed by a man [who has]
also thought long and deeply
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The poem
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Themes:
Loss/Grief
Religion
Parent/child (family)
relationships
• Nature
• Love
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Key terms:
Rhyme structure
Personification
End-stopping
Simile
Alliteration
Juxtaposition
Monologue
First person
The poem
• Was included in a volume of poetry which
Wordsworth described as “founded on the
affections”
• It has echoes of the prodigal son parable
in the Bible (Luke)
• First person monologue (Wordsworth
assuming the voice of Margaret)
• It is the story of a woman who has not
heard from her son for seven years
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The Affliction of Margaret
This is a long poem with
eleven, seven line stanzas
It has an ABABCCC rhyme
structure
Where art thou, my beloved Son,
Where art thou, worse to me than dead?
Oh find me, prosperous or undone!
Or, if the grave be now thy bed,
Why am I ignorant of the same
That I may rest; and neither blame
Nor sorrow may attend thy name?
Seven years, alas! to have received
No tidings of an only child;
To have despaired, have hoped, believed,
And been for evermore beguiled, Sometimes with thoughts of very bliss!
I catch at them, and then I miss;
Was ever darkness like to this?
He was among the prime in worth,
An object beauteous to behold;
Well born, well bred; I sent him forth
Ingenuous, innocent, and bold:
If things ensued that wanted grace,
As hath been said, they were not base;
And never blush was on my face.
Generally, the language is
simple and direct
Ah! little doth the young one dream,
When full of play and childish cares,
What power is in his wildest scream,
Heard by his mother unawares!
He knows it not, he cannot guess:
Years to a mother bring distress;
But do not make her love the less.
Neglect me! no, I suffered long
From that ill thought; and, being blind,
Said "Pride shall help me in my wrong:
Kind mother have I been, as kind
As ever breathed:" and that is true;
I've wet my path with tears like dew,
Weeping for him when no one knew.
Wordsworth wrote this in "the
very language of men" in the
style of everyday speech.
Although he does not use
dialect words or abbreviations
My Son, if thou be humbled, poor,
Hopeless of honour and of gain,
Oh! do not dread thy mother's door;
Think not of me with grief and pain:
I now can see with better eyes;
And worldly grandeur I despise,
And fortune with her gifts and lies.
Alas! the fowls of heaven have wings,
And blasts of heaven will aid their flight;
They mount -how short a voyage brings
The wanderers back to their delight!
Chains tie us down by land and sea;
And wishes, vain as mine, may be
All that is left to comfort thee.
Perhaps some dungeon hears thee groan,
Maimed, mangled by inhuman men;
Or thou upon a desert thrown
Inheritest the lion's den;
Or hast been summoned to the deep,
Thou, thou, and all thy mates, to keep
An incommunicable sleep.
I look for ghosts; but none will force
Their way to me: 'tis falsely said
That there was ever intercourse
Between the living and the dead;
For, surely, then I should have sight
Of him I wait for day and night,
With love and longings infinite.
My apprehensions come in crowds;
I dread the rustling of the grass;
The very shadows of the clouds
Have power to shake me as they pass:
I question things, and do not find
One that will answer to my mind;
And all the world appears unkind.
Beyond participation lie
My troubles, and beyond relief:
If any chance to heave a sigh,
They pity me, and not my grief.
Then come to me, my Son, or send
Some tidings that my woes may end;
I have no other earthly friend!
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ABABCCC rhyme structure
+
Simple language
=
Does it make? this sound
like a nursery Rhyme?
If so, what effect does this
have?
The Affliction of Margaret
Wordsworth
writes about a
woman in the first
person so we
understand her
story from her
own perspective.
It is Margaret’s
only child and he
has been missing
for seven years
Is there a selfpitying tone to this
or do we feel
genuine sympathy?
A question is repeated to let the reader
know what Margaret’s “affliction” is: her
son is missing
Wordsworth has her addressing him
directly. Why?
Where art thou, my beloved Son,
Where art thou, worse to me than dead?
Oh find me, prosperous or undone!
Margaret wants to
Or, if the grave be now thy bed,
know where her
Why am I ignorant of the same
son is whether he
That I may rest; and neither blame
is successful, poor
Nor sorrow may attend thy name?
or even dead.
Seven years, alas! to have received
No tidings of an only child;
Margaret
To have despaired, have hoped, believed, describes the
And been for evermore beguiled, mixture of
Sometimes with thoughts of very bliss!
emotions that
I catch at them, and then I miss;
she has felt
Was ever darkness like to this?
which has
ultimately left
her with
sadness and
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despair.
The tone is
one of pride
as Margaret
tells of how
well brought
up her son
was
Margaret talks
of how a son will
always bring
worry and stress
to his mother,
yet she still
remembers him
fondly.
Wordsworth
rarely uses one
word when
several will do
He was among the prime in worth,
An object beauteous to behold;
Well born, well bred; I sent him forth
Ingenuous, innocent, and bold:
If things ensued that wanted grace,
As hath been said, they were not base;
And never blush was on my face.
Ah! little doth the young one dream,
When full of play and childish cares,
What power is in his wildest scream,
Heard by his mother unawares!
He knows it not, he cannot guess:
Years to a mother bring distress;
But do not make her love the less.
She also absolves her son of blame “he knows it
not”. Is she excusing just her son or the callowness
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of youth in general?
The son is
described as a
valuable
possession. His
qualities are
listed and then
Margaret says
how proud she
is.
The innocence
of childhood
doesn’t
understand the
affects on a
parent they
have
Is this a wistful praise of youth
or a lament on the worries of
parenthood?
She believes that
she does not
deserve this
torment as she has
been a kind mother;
what tone is
suggested by this?
“Pride” what does this
suggest about the
mother?
Addressing her son
directly, Margaret
appeals for her son to
come home
regardless of his
situation.
Emphasises the volume of tears
she has shed and the daily
nature of them
Neglect me! no, I suffered long
From that ill thought; and, being blind,
Said "Pride shall help me in my wrong:
Kind mother have I been, as kind
As ever breathed:" and that is true;
I've wet my path with tears like dew,
Weeping for him when no one knew.
My Son, if thou be humbled, poor,
Hopeless of honour and of gain,
Oh! do not dread thy mother's door;
Think not of me with grief and pain:
I now can see with better eyes;
And worldly grandeur I despise,
And fortune with her gifts and lies.
“Fortune” is personified and shown to be
fickle. Margaret naturally despises
H not been good to
fortune because it has
her.
Margaret
(ironically) tells
us how she has
suffered in
silence.
Why is this
ironic? What is
she doing?
She loves her
son better than
any fortunes or
gifts.
Unconditional
maternal love?
OR…
Margaret uses
figurative
language to
suppose that
her son may be
an angel in
heaven but
unable to visit
her as she is
tied to the earth.
Wordsworth
juxtaposes the tone
in these two
stanzas; first the
mother is despairing
that her son is dead
but imagines him in
heaven, then she
lists his possible
grisly fates. Why?
She imagines her son trumpeted into heaven if
he’s dead. Arrogance? Wishful-thinking? Selfcomforting?
Alas! the fowls of heaven have wings,
And blasts of heaven will aid their flight;
They mount -how short a voyage brings
The wanderers back to their delight!
Chains tie us down by land and sea;
And wishes, vain as mine, may be
All that is left to comfort thee.
Perhaps some dungeon hears thee groan,
Maimed, mangled by inhuman men;
Or thou upon a desert thrown
Inheritest the lion's den;
Or hast been summoned to the deep,
Thou, thou, and all thy mates, to keep
An incommunicable sleep.
Is this the only
possible reason
for him not
visiting?
The tone
becomes
depressing as
Margaret
assumes the
terrible fates
that could
have befallen
her son
The alliterative ‘m’ sounds emphasise the mother’s
vivid imagination running away from her as she
H this image
labours over
This verse explains how Margaret does not believe in ghosts
as she would have surely been visited.
Does this contradict or confirm her Christian beliefs?
What attitude does
the mother show
here?
The loss of a son could
be said to be “against
nature” and
Wordsworth describes
no joy in nature
Margaret (is he
exploiting the romantic
form and, if so, to what
effect?
I look for ghosts; but none will force
Their way to me: 'tis falsely said
That there was ever intercourse
Between the living and the dead;
For, surely, then I should have sight
Of him I wait for day and night,
With love and longings infinite.
An everlasting
love?
Wallowing in
self-pity?
Her fears and
apprehensions are
My apprehensions come in crowds;
personified and
I dread the rustling of the grass;
are said to be “in
The very shadows of the clouds
crowds” which
Have power to shake me as they pass: overwhelm her.
I question things, and do not find
Should she, could
One that will answer to my mind;
she, “take arms
And all the world appears unkind.
against a sea of
troubles, and by
opposing, end
Margaret has lost her faith in all
them”?
that is good in theH world.
The poem ends with a summary of
what Margaret wants: either her
son returned or some news of his
whereabouts.
She is beyond help/can’t help herself
Beyond participation lie
My troubles,
relief:
Most lines in the
poemand
arebeyond
end-stopped
Has her loneliness
become her company?
The reader cannot help If any chance to heave a sigh,
pity me, and not my grief.
but feel
sympathy
Find
the for
lines They
that
aren’t;
what
might
Then
come
to
me,
my
Son,
or send
Margaret as she reveals
Some
tidingsto
that
my woes may
Wordsworth
be
trying
convey
by end;
allowing
how lonely
she is.
I have no other earthly friend!
these lines to ‘run-on’?
Was she a good
mother?
What is your opinion of
the son?
Why has he left and
never returned?
The poem is a Monologue. It has one speaker who tells her own story.
What other poems use this form?
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Comparisons
Loss of a loved one:
Monologues:
Digging, Storm on the Island Midterm Break Heaney
The Song of the Old Mother, On
My First Sonne
On My First Sonne Jonson
The Affliction of Margaret
Family relationships:
Nature:
Digging, Mid-Term Break,
Storm on the Island, Death of a
Naturalist; Heaney
Catrin, On the Train, Cold Knap Lake
Clarke
A Difficult Birth, The Field Mouse
Clarke
On My First Sonne, The Song of the
Old Mother,
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Patrolling Barnegat, The Eagle,
Inversnaid, Clare's Sonnet
Review
• Sorting out Margaret's hopes and fears
• Working through the poem, try to find all the different
things that Margaret says may have happened to her
son - you may find that she repeats some. As you go,
note them down. When you have finished, organize them
into a list. In each case,
• write down her hope or fear, as far as possible in your
own words;
• state what are her reasons (if she has any), or note that
she has no reason for what she thinks, and finally,
• say how far you think this idea of hers is likely to be true.
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