Michael (Masterplots II: Poetry, Revised Edition)
At a glance:
- Author: William Wordsworth
- First Published: 1800
- Type of Work: Pastoral
- Genres: Poetry, Pastoral
- Subjects: Parents and children, Love or romance, Nature, Rural or country life, Fathers, Eighteenth century, City life, Death or dying, Tragedy, Work or workers, Trees, Shepherds, Oak
The Poem
Michael is a long poem in blank verse, its 490 lines divided into sixteen stanzas. The Michael of the title is the poem’s protagonist. The subtitle, “A Pastoral Poem,” seems to challenge the traditional conception of pastoral poetry as a form for the idyllic and the bucolic, and to prepare the reader to accept the “low and rustic life” as the ideal pastoral.
The poem is written in the third person. The poet himself assumes the role of narrator, guiding the reader to a tragic scene. There, he relates the tale of Michael with intense love and...
[The entire page is 2087 words long]
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