My Heart Leaps Up When I Behold Analysis

The technical term for the rhythm of this poem is "iambic tetrameter," but don't get all freaked out by those strange words. An iamb is a two-syllable combination, where an unstressed syllable is f...

Our speaker in "My Heart Leaps Up When I Behold" seems like a pretty tranquil, but resolute, guy. He loves nature, always has, and always will. We know that he's male, and an adult, as he refers to...

There's one thing we know pretty much right away about the setting of the poem: at least in the speaker's imagination, there's a rainbow. Perhaps it's just rained, the air feels fresh and cool, and...

When we read this poem aloud, we can almost hear the speaker on one of his long walks through woods and fields, his footsteps beating steadily on the ground to the rhythm of the poem. The air is co...

The poem doesn't actually have a title (thanks a bunch, Wordsworth), so we use the first line: "My Heart Leaps Up When I Behold." That might explain why the title seems a little long, or somehow in...

People talk a lot about Wordsworth's love of nature. That makes sense, because, you know, he wrote about the natural world a ton. This particular poem brings out a connection between this love of n...

This poem may not be simple, but there aren't too many sharks waiting to attack you. The poem is straightforward and short, but there is a lot of depth in these waters. Be on your guard, or you mig...

Wordsworth went on hiking tours all over Europe. He hiked through France, Switzerland, Germany, and Wales. Walk on, W.! (Source.) Props: in 1843, Wordsworth became England's poet laureate. (Source....

Though rainbows can be romantic, this poem is not at all sexual. Feel free to read it aloud to children of any age.