To the Cuckoo By William Wordsworth

Photos Striped Rancho Cuckoo Dideric Cuckoo Bird Guira Caimen Cuckoo Pied Cuckoo

To the Cuckoo O blithe newcomer! I have heard, I hear thee and rejoice: O Cuckoo! shall I call thee bird, Or but a wandering Voice? While I am lying on the grass Thy twofold shout I hear; From hill to hill it seems to pass, At once far off and near. Saying “ Oh blithe newcomer ”, Wordsworth is giving the bird the label of being merry and not being subject to the restriction of industrial life. The naming of the bird: a voice and a sense of freedom. Nature as the emotional necessity and the basis of his spiritual life: nostalgia

Though babbling only to the vale Of sunshine and of flowers, Thou bringest unto me a tale Of visionary hours. Thrice welcome, darling of the Spring! Even yet thou art to me No bird, but an invisible thing, A voice, a mystery; Nature was more something to be seen than sth to be known This cuckoo tells a story of “ visionary hours ” or times from the past. The cuckoo ’ s song has an attachment to Wordsworth ’ s past. Also the healing power of nature. A source of mental cleanliness and spiritual understanding

The same whom in my schoolboy days I listened to; that Cry Which made me look a thousand ways In bush, and tree, and sky. To seek thee did I often rove Through woods and on the green; And thou wert still a hope, a love; Still longed for, never seen! These lines say that Wordsworth has actually never seen the bird and that it is a mysterious voice. The bird has been hidden to him over the years, yet it can still strike emotions in him.

And I can listen to thee yet; Can lie upon the plain And listen, till I do beget That golden time again. O blessed birth! the earth we pace Again appears to be An unsubstantial, fairy place, That is fit home for Thee! The poet lives in the past while the bird in the present The whole stanza only makes sense when analyzed together. He explains that now, he can hear the cuckoo birds cry while laying out in a field, and is able to produce the memories of what he considers his “ golden time ”. As a true romantic his years as a child are considered to be the best of his life (golden), and this Cuckoo bird is able to draw that emotion from him.

A Poet of Remembrance Emotion recollected in tranquility. Some object or event in the present triggers a sudden reveal of feelings he had experienced in youth. The result is a poem, exhibiting the sharp discrepancy between “ two consciousness ”, and a poem of excitation in calm.

Themes Several themes are evident throughout the poem. Some are also seen in Wordsworth's other poems.  The healing power of nature As the speaker lying on the grass listening to the song of the bird, he can contemporarily forget the dreariness of the world and be immersed in the golden times. In many of Wordsworth’s works he illustrates his belief in romanticism and the deeper importance of being immersed in nature in response to the industrial revolution and the growing cities around him.

Themes  Childhood and Memories As the speaker lied on the grass, listening to, and looking for the Cuckoo he cannot see, he finds himself revisiting his childhood memories and school boy days as he often heard the song of the Cuckoo, yet he could never find it. The characterization of the bird allows Wordsworth to merge his past recollections with the present. This theme illustrates the greater significance of the poem as a way of expressing how the memory is a key factor in preserving the delights and pleasures of being in touch with a divine being through nature.

Themes The Cuckoo birds cry is not only significant because he believes the cuckoo itself is an extraordinary creature and represents a higher being, but because the Cuckoo’s cry is a trigger for him. Wordsworth is able to access memories from decades, “the golden time” in his childhood via the message the cuckoo brings. Wordsworth is not only trying to convey the idea that the cuckoo bird is an outstanding creature and that its cry signifies a memory trigger, but he wants to express that true romantic notions in a childhood functions to those that believe in preserving the innocence of childhood, in that no matter how many years pass, the true romanticism will always live on. Although children are best in touch with the Divine and do not have to be subject to the industrial age, adults such as Wordsworth that keep believing, will help preserve the romantic way.