Poetry & Analysis
Selected Poems
Inspirational PoemsThe Tables Turned
Up! up! my Friend, and quit your books;
Or surely you’ll grow double:
Up! up! my Friend, and clear your looks;
Why all this toil and trouble?
The sun, above the mountain’s head,
A freshening lustre mellow
Through all the long green fields has spread,
His first sweet evening yellow.
Books! ’tis a dull and endless strife:
Come, hear the woodland linnet,
How sweet his music! on my life,
There’s more of wisdom in it.
And hark! how blithe the throstle sings!
He, too, is no mean preacher:
Come forth into the light of things,
Let Nature be your teacher.
She has a world of ready wealth,
Our minds and hearts to bless—
Spontaneous wisdom breathed by health,
Truth breathed by cheerfulness.
One impulse from a vernal wood
May teach you more of man,
Of moral evil and of good,
Than all the sages can.
Sweet is the lore which Nature brings;
Our meddling intellect
Mis-shapes the beauteous forms of things:—
We murder to dissect.
Enough of Science and of Art;
Close up those barren leaves;
Come forth, and bring with you a heart
That watches and receives.
Wordsworth tells his friend to leave books for a while and learn from nature. The poem does not reject education; it warns against knowledge without living experience.
The poem teaches that life lessons are not only memorized; they are noticed, felt, and practiced. The tone is lively and persuasive. The mood feels refreshing because the speaker invites the reader into open air and active attention.
Overview Short Summary
Core Ideas Main Themes
Practical Wisdom Life Lesson
Emotional Effect Tone and Mood
Fable
The mountain and the squirrel
Had a quarrel,
And the former called the latter “Little Prig.”
Bun replied,
“You are doubtless very big;
But all sorts of things and weather
Must be taken in together,
To make up a year
And a sphere.
And I think it no disgrace
To occupy my place.
If I’m not so large as you,
You are not so small as I,
And not half so spry.
I’ll not deny you make
A very pretty squirrel track;
Talents differ; all is well and wisely put;
If I cannot carry forests on my back,
Neither can you crack a nut.”
A mountain mocks a squirrel for being small, but the squirrel answers that every creature has its own place and ability. Size is not the same as value.
The poem teaches readers not to measure worth by comparison. A small gift can still be necessary. The poem uses personification, dialogue, and a compact fable form to make its lesson clear and memorable.
Overview Short Summary
Core Ideas Main Themes
Practical Wisdom Life Lesson
Craft Literary Devices
The Rhodora
In May, when sea-winds pierced our solitudes,
I found the fresh Rhodora in the woods,
Spreading its leafless blooms in a damp nook,
To please the desert and the sluggish brook.
The purple petals, fallen in the pool,
Made the black water with their beauty gay;
Here might the red-bird come his plumes to cool,
And court the flower that cheapens his array.
Rhodora! if the sages ask thee why
This charm is wasted on the earth and sky,
Tell them, dear, that if eyes were made for seeing,
Then Beauty is its own excuse for being:
Why thou wert there, O rival of the rose!
I never thought to ask; I never knew:
But, in my simple ignorance, suppose
The self-same Power that brought me there brought you.
Emerson discovers a rhodora flower blooming in an unnoticed place. He concludes that beauty does not need applause or practical justification.
The poem teaches that not every valuable thing must be useful, popular, or seen by a crowd. The rhodora symbolizes quiet worth. Its hidden bloom becomes a lesson in dignity without display.
Overview Short Summary
Core Ideas Main Themes
Practical Wisdom Life Lesson
Interpretation Symbols and Their Meaning
The Battle of Blenheim
It was a summer evening,
Old Kaspar’s work was done,
And he before his cottage door
Was sitting in the sun;
And by him sported on the green
His little grandchild Wilhelmine.
She saw her brother Peterkin
Roll something large and round,
Which he beside the rivulet
In playing there had found;
He came to ask what he had found,
That was so large, and smooth, and round.
Old Kaspar took it from the boy,
Who stood expectant by;
And then the old man shook his head,
And with a natural sigh,
“’Tis some poor fellow’s skull,” said he,
“Who fell in the great victory.
“I find them in the garden,
For there’s many here about;
And often when I go to plough,
The ploughshare turns them out;
For many thousand men,” said he,
“Were slain in that great victory.”
“Now tell us what ’twas all about,”
Young Peterkin he cries;
And little Wilhelmine looks up
With wonder-waiting eyes;
“Now tell us all about the war,
And what they fought each other for.”
“It was the English,” Kaspar cried,
“Who put the French to rout;
But what they fought each other for
I could not well make out;
But everybody said,” quoth he,
“That ’twas a famous victory.
“My father lived at Blenheim then,
Yon little stream hard by;
They burnt his dwelling to the ground,
And he was forced to fly;
So with his wife and child he fled,
Nor had he where to rest his head.
“With fire and sword the country round
Was wasted far and wide,
And many a childing mother then
And new-born baby died;
But things like that, you know, must be
At every famous victory.
“They say it was a shocking sight
After the field was won;
For many thousand bodies here
Lay rotting in the sun;
But things like that, you know, must be
After a famous victory.
“Great praise the Duke of Marlbro’ won,
And our good Prince Eugene.”
“Why ’twas a very wicked thing!”
Said little Wilhelmine.
“Nay, nay, my little girl,” quoth he,
“It was a famous victory.
“And everybody praised the Duke
Who this great fight did win.”
“But what good came of it at last?”
Quoth little Peterkin.
“Why that I cannot tell,” said he,
“But ’twas a famous victory.”
Southey questions the glory of war through a grandfather explaining Blenheim to children. The repeated phrase “famous victory” becomes bitterly ironic.
The poem teaches readers not to accept public praise without asking who paid the cost. Repetition and irony drive the poem. The children’s simple questions become more morally powerful than the adult’s inherited slogans.
Overview Short Summary
Core Ideas Main Themes
Practical Wisdom Life Lesson
Craft Literary Devices
The Old Man’s Comforts and How He Gained Them
“You are old, Father William,” the young man cried,
“The few locks which are left you are grey;
You are hale, Father William, a hearty old man,
Now tell me the reason, I pray.”
“In the days of my youth,” Father William replied,
“I remembered that youth would fly fast,
And abused not my health and my vigour at first,
That I never might need them at last.”
“You are old, Father William,” the young man cried,
“And pleasures with youth pass away;
And yet you lament not the days that are gone,
Now tell me the reason, I pray.”
“In the days of my youth,” Father William replied,
“I remembered that youth could not last;
I thought of the future, whatever I did,
That I never might grieve for the past.”
“You are old, Father William,” the young man cried,
“And life must be hastening away;
You are cheerful, and love to converse upon death,
Now tell me the reason, I pray.”
“I am cheerful, young man,” Father William replied,
“Let the cause thy attention engage;
In the days of my youth I remembered my God,
And He hath not forgotten my age.”
An old man explains that his peace in age came from wise habits in youth: he protected his health, thought about the future, and kept faith.
The poem teaches that small choices made early can become peace later in life. The tone is calm, direct, and instructive. The mood is peaceful because the old man speaks without bitterness.
Overview Short Summary
Core Ideas Main Themes
Practical Wisdom Life Lesson
Emotional Effect Tone and Mood
Continue Reading
Related Poems & Articles
More selected reading from Inspirational Poems.
