“The Rainbow” – William Wordsworth

The title doesn’t create a lot of expectations, but it might make the reader think that the content of the poem will create happiness within the reader, because a rainbow is full of different colours that create pleasure within when seen. The intelligent reader might also ask himself what are the conditions for a rainbow to take place. It must be rainy, because when it has rained, the sky is wet and full of humidity, so when the sunrays cross the wet sky they are reflected in different colours, creating pleasant visual effects: a rainbow. The reader at this point, even though the title doesn’t create many expectations, should be enticed to read on to find out what will happen.

The poem is made up of 9 lines. The rhyme scheme is: ABCCABCDD. The first two lines are an introduction to the text. Lines 3/4/5/6, which all together form a quatrain, don’t give an explanation about the content previously introduced, but instead they let the intelligent reader know how it happened. Lines 7 and 8 are additional lines that recall the structure of the first two lines. And to finish, line 9 stands alone and is itself the conclusion of the poem. More detailed, the first and the second line show the effects that watching the rainbow in the sky has on the narrator. The third, fourth and fifth lines tell the reader about the same event, that happened though in the past, in the present and that will hopefully happen in the future. The sixth line expresses the speaking voices’ wish to die if he would have stopped having this deep connection with nature. The seventh line is the key to the poem: the present is the result of the past, so naturally the future will be the result of the present. This line is also a paradox, which means its statement denied by reality has the function to think over the poem. In the last two lines 8 and 9, the idea of nature as a form of spirituality or religion is introduced. Nature is more than just our undeveloped surroundings now. It's a source of spiritual fulfillment for our speaker. In this poem the poet uses present, past and future tenses. He uses the present tense to express his present happiness, the theme of the poem and his wish. He uses the past tense to say that there was a rainbow in the sky when he was born. He uses the future to talk about his old age. As natural events are continuous, and so is time.

The speaker explains his connection to nature, stating that it has been strong throughout his life. He even goes so far as to say that if he ever loses his connection with it he would prefer to die. The message that the poet wants the intelligent reader to read between the lines is that we should always have a special connection with nature, because it allows us to always try new and amazing emotions, to live and appreciate the world that surrounds us and it’s particulars. When we are little, we don’t think rationally most of the time, so everything is always interesting, new and fascinating and it’s able to move us and make us feel so many different emotions, sometimes all in one go. But then, when we grow up, we start thinking in a rational way most of time, so we slowly start to become machines that hardly laugh or feel anything. But we mustn’t let such things happen. It is always important to try and feel new things and appreciate what surrounds us, even the most tiny and insignificant object or living creature. We must live as if everyday has something new to offer and something unexpected will happen.