A Return to Nature

While death and how we cope with it is the primary subject of Wordsworth's We Are Seven, there is an underlying theme of nature at play. It is no secret that Wordsworth is infatuated with nature and it's healing powers, and he manages to convey this idea through the little girl in the poem. While the little girl seems to be your average wide-eyed eight-year-old, her description almost gives you the sense that she is not so average after all. Considering she is "wildly clad" and possesses a "rustic, woodland air," it seems as though the girl, who is alone and only mentions her "mother" in passing, has emerged from the forest, which presumably she calls home. When we learn that the girl's brother and sister are buried beneath a church-yard tree, and that she dwells nearby in a cottage with her mother, it becomes increasingly clear that the girl is deeply connected to nature. It is possible that "mother" serves a dual function in this scenario, as the girl lives under the guidance of "mother" nature instead of an older woman. Regardless, it seems as though Wordsworth is trying to draw some sort of link between the little girl's positive rationalization of death and her supreme connection to nature. Perhaps the fact that she has developed this strong relationship with nature has allowed her to think about death in the way that she does. By sitting in the church yard "upon the ground" by her brother and sister's graves, the girl feels closer to her siblings, whose death in a sense marks a return to the Earth from which all life was created. Whether or not she is aware of it, the little girl knows much more about the universe than many. She understands that death can be as prevalent as life and that everything is cyclical - in the end we find that a deep connection to nature is ultimately the only thing that can help us get through hard times by providing a better, more holistic understanding of how the world works.