Poem of the Day: "Ode on Intimations of Immortality, Part VI" by William Wordsworth, Poet of the Month

For the Songs of Eretz Poem of the Day for June 25, 2014, we continue with our study of "Ode on Intimations of Immortality" by William Wordsworth, Poet of the Month.  Today, we examine Part VI.

Ode on Intimations of Immortality, Part VI

William Wordsworth

Earth fills her lap with pleasures of her own; 

Yearnings she hath in her own natural kind, 

And, even with something of a mother’s mind, 

               And no unworthy aim, 

          The homely nurse doth all she can 

To make her foster-child, her inmate, Man, 

               Forget the glories he hath known, 

And that imperial palace whence he came. 

Part VI is presented as an octet with a fairly complex rhyme scheme:  abbcddac.  Here Wordsworth reminds us that we humans all begin our lives as divine creatures sent from heaven in the image of God.  He further reminds us that the earth, while not comparable to heaven, is nevertheless filled with pleasure and beauty for us.  As with Part V, Wordsworth uses a prison metaphor to describe Man's condition--a condition against which we all must strive.