![]() The first pairing is in Conway, and the second pair is out to sea. The second shift occurs when the speaker learns that two of her six siblings are dead. Some foreshadowing is implemented when the narrator describes her look as “wondering.” This transitions to stanza five and six, where the reader learns the fates of all of her siblings. In the same stanza, Wordsworth starts to develop the main storyline in this poem, where the narrator asks the child how many siblings she has. The narrator also states her as a “little maid” reinforcing the idea that she is still a young maiden. Like Lord Byron, during this era she would’ve been considered to be very beautiful. She had a rustic, woodland air, And she was wildly clad: Her eyes were fair, and very fair -Her beauty made me glad.” By directly stating that she is eight and has very fair skin, or pale skin, she is seen as pure and innocent. “I met a little cottage Girl: She was eight years old, she said Her hair was thick with many a curl, That clustered round her head. In the second and third stanza, Wordsworth describes the girl so that she would be youthful and innocent. ![]() The alternating lines of iambic tetrameter and iambic trimeter give the poem a similar style to the song, and gives the little girl a more bubbly air to her. It also introduces the naivety of the child, begging the question Should children have any idea about death? The structure of the poem is a ballad, and the opening paragraph and concluding paragraph are the only ones that do not follow this sequence. ![]() “A simple Child, That lightly draws its breath, And feels its life in every limb, What should it know of death?” In this stanza, Wordsworth contrasts the words breath and death to create life and death in his opening paragraph. In the first stanza, Wordsworth uses imagery to contrast the youth of the child, symbolizing life, and straightforward diction for death. The first shift occurs when the speaker asks the little girl about her siblings. ![]()
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