Over the period of
the semester we have read stories by William Wordsworth and Elizabeth Barrett
Browning that use Children as the main inspiration, and the stories typically
used the main theme of innocence to illustrate the role of a child over various
time periods. The children do experience a change in mindsets, but they were
not for the better as we see comparing the children from Browning’s “The Cry of
the children” to the child from Wordsworth’s “We are seven”. me periods. The
children do experience a change in mindsets, but they were not for the better
as we see comparing the children from Browning’s “The Cry of the children” to
the child from Wordsworth’s “We are seven”. Even though both groups have lives where they have grown up
too fast the child in Wordsworth’s tale seems to have had time to be a child,
while the children in “Cry of the Children” have experienced the sorrows of
being an adult too soon. The children have experienced sorrows that no human
should endure, but losing their innocence is something that makes the situation
even worse. As these stories are analyzed innocence will be a topic focused on
quite a bit based on ideas presented by fellow classmates, and myself because
we should appreciate the stories of the experiences endured. In society we do
not appreciate the way individuals have used their experiences to perceive
lives. Society also takes what we have today for granted as well not knowing
the prices paid by the producing pioneers of the goods that we have today.
William Wordsworth
The first
insight we get is from William Wordsworth’s “We are seven”, a poem that shares
the innocence of a little girl that knows her siblings are no longer alive but
acknowledges them as they were. Through out the poem the little girl’s
persistence captivates your attention causing you to be drawn in by the little
girl’s innocence. The reader cannot help but to be fascinated at the idea that
a child is capable of possessing ideas such as this girl, because most children
today would see this child as an outcast of some sort for possessing different
views. The little girl seems to have such a peaceful understanding of death
that can be related to nature and having a different understanding of it even
as going as far as saying “My stockings there I often knit, my ‘kerchief there
I hem; and there upon the ground I sit—I sit and I sing to them”. In order to
understand this concept we analyze what has caused this little girl to obtain
the ideology she has. The poem was written in 1798 when there was little to no
technology and children were brought up as children who had the chance to
experience the necessary aspects of childhood. The little girl tells the guy
questioning her understanding of death that she played outside with her brother
John around her sister’s death when the grass was green and also when it was
covered in snow. This means since there was no technology as there is today the
children had no choice but to spend their days playing outside. This can be seen
as the contributing factor that has caused the little girl to gain the ideology
she has obtained. The girl has spent so much time outside that she has obtained
an understanding of nature that is only possible with the amount of time spent
outside playing. The Idea is presented that those who are close with nature are
close with death as well, leading them to have a different perception of death.
The little girl has the idea that her siblings should not be considered any
less present than she is. The fact that the man is trying to alter her
perception by stating, “But they are dead; those two are dead!” Saying that
shows how society is so inconsiderate of other people’s feelings that some
people go as far as changing a child’s perception for the worse. Using the
innocence of a child presents the idea that it is possible to defeat the
wickedness that exists in the world; you just have to stick by your beliefs.
The girl possesses characteristics that we can relate to as a hippy. The little
girl and the people of this time period can be seen as hippy a pioneer, which
is pretty far out. With such a peaceful mindset you cannot help but to admire
the girl for ending with “Nay, we are
seven!”(114) Showing she has won the battle.
The
children in Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s “Cry of the children” have a
totally different mindset than the little girl in “We are seven”. These
children are forced to work in labor mills in order to contribute income, even
though the pay is little to nothing. The children are forced into adulthood way
to early not even given the same opportunity that the little girl was. They
have no appreciation for life because all their lives have been is suffering.
This poem was written during the industrial revolution, which consisted of an
evolution in the way things were manufactured specifically an increase in
technology. This created the need for labor, but the wages for adults would be
high resulting the opportunity for children to work, but at a cost that was not
worth the agony endured by these children. The pains endured were so bad that
it caused them to lose hope in religion because there were no answers to their
prayers. The agony is too much to handle all at once because of their
inexperience. Without the experience of a childhood there has not been an
opportunity to grow as a person and have the understanding about labor that
adults have. For a child to think “It is good when it happens, that we die
before our time”(623) is not a thought a child should possess. Their innocence
is lost to soon which shows how a child can view these types of experiences as
traumatic resulting in a desire to end the suffering with death. The kids go
into the experience with their innocence as we hear the children say, “Get up,
little Alice! It’s day”(623). That type of situation demonstrates how the
children understand death but they have a different perception because the
agony has caused them to see death as an escape from life rather than appreciate
it. The Agony suffered by these kids
demonstrates how the evolution of society has become so cruel that mere
children would rather be dead than suffer any more, but why do these kids feel
this way? In order to understand their take on life we must look at their
reasoning. The children have lost their last bit of hope after they feel that
God has not heard or answered their prayers. The children say “If he heard us,
he would surely answer, smiling down the steep world very purely, ‘Come and
rest with me, my child”(625). The children are weeping because they have not
been taken away to rest with God. The children cannot relate to adults yet and
should not because a child’s innocence is one of the most precious traits to
possess and losing it too soon can result in dark perceptions about life result
in wanting to escape it at any means. Having children working in mills is a
much different aspect than the experienced adult because they do not see it as
suffering rather a part of life that is necessary to survive.
Analyzing
both situations we are able to witness how the perception of life changed for
children going from enjoying life and appreciating nature with the introduction
of industrial machinery, which had a huge toll on society. Reflecting on both
situations can help readers appreciate life and technology at the same time
know as a “modern day hippie.” Evolution was not bad all around because today
we appreciate life and the importance of letting a child develop themselves
with the experiences that are not forced on them. By spending long periods of
time outside with her siblings the little girl from “we are seven” has the
opportunity to learn life lessons for her self rather than being forced into a
life that causes her to desire death. The children in “The cry of the children”
have had not had the chance to see the brighter side of life only experiencing
agony, which makes them want to rest with God. The readers are shown how the
children in both poems are fully capable of grabbing the concept of death and
refer to the dead as if they were still living. A big difference though is that
the crying children see death as a better alternative to life while the little
girl appreciates it more. By showing both perceptions readers are given
material that helps appreciate life more. We should recognize these kids for
their suffering because they helped technology grow to what it is today by
providing the opportunity for things to get started. We also see that we should
appreciate nature more because it helps your outtake on life develop to a level
that makes you appreciate life.
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