B. Wordsworth

“His English was so good it didn’t sound natural, and I could see my mother was worried.”

The use of “good” (32) English is treated with suspicion by the boy’s mother. She helps many homeless or desperate people; the arrival of a man who speaks well makes her wary, prompting her to question whether someone seemingly so educated might have a hidden agenda. The boy’s mother is justifiably worried in a country where good spoken English is associated with colonial power. Wordsworth’s accent causes him to appear as an agent of colonial control even though he is not.

“I ain’t have the time.”

The boy claims that he does not have the time needed to sit with Wordsworth and watch the bees. The boy’s excuse hints at the way contemporary society clashes with childhood innocence. The boy’s schedule is full of chores and the rigorous demands of his world; the society does not accommodate nature, nor does it allow for children to sit down and appreciate the world they inhabit. Wordsworth’s role is to introduce the boy to the beauty that surrounds him but that his life does not permit him the time to enjoy. Opening the boy’s eyes in this way is Wordsworth’s greatest artistic contribution to the world.

“Black Wordsworth. White Wordsworth was my brother. We share one heart.”

Though he does not state it explicitly, the poet is placing himself in a racially arranged pantheon of famous writers. He is comparing himself to William Wordsworth, a white poet famous for his appreciation of nature. In comparing himself to the more famous Wordsworth and implying a fraternity with the Englishman, Black Wordsworth elevates himself into the canon of essential and famous poets, even though he has never sold a poem. He defines himself in opposition to the successful white poet, hinting that his Black skin is an explanation for why he is not as successful as his fellow poet, even though they “share one heart” (32).

“You’re a poet, too, you know. And when you’re a poet you can cry for everything.”

Wordsworth teaches the boy to find poetry in everyday life. In the context of the story, poetry is not just words on a page. Instead, poetry is a sincere appreciation of the world that the characters inhabit. The bees, the stars, and even the switch the boy’s mother uses to beat him are all imbued with a potency that can make a poet cry. Wordsworth teaches the boy to engage with the emotion of the world and teaches him that he can “cry for everything” (33) if he thinks with the mind of a poet.

“It is the poet’s tragedy.”

For Wordsworth, poetry is more than literature or words. Poetry is inseparable from tragedy, whether it is the uninvited status of the bees, the distance between the stars and humanity, or the various sad events that befall every person. The poet’s tragedy is that they are so finely tuned to their emotional surroundings that they cannot ignore the pain and sadness that surround them. The poet is defined by their ability to recognize and interpret the tragedy of everyday life.

“I have been waiting for you for a long time.”

Wordsworth has felt isolated and alone since the death of his wife. He has searched for a person with a similar sensibility to help him make sense of a confusing, beautiful, and tragic world. Until he found the boy, he was lost. He spent a long time searching not for the boy specifically but for someone who can empathize with his point of view.

“The place looked wild, as though it wasn’t in the city at all.”

The wildness of the garden makes it feel detached and unrelated to the urban environment in which it is situated. The city is an attempt to control nature. The garden defies this level of control. The plants are allowed to live as they please, as are the wildlife. While the garden may seem wild, everything within it is as natural as it could be. The wildness of the natural space is, to Wordsworth, true normality. The garden is the poet’s attempt to create a space immune to society’s restrictions and limitations in tribute to his late wife.

“I felt like nothing, and at the same time I had never felt so big and great in all my life.”

The boy stares up at the stars and, for the first time, he begins to discern his place in the universe. The stars have been ever-present in his life, but Wordsworth teaches him to view them with a poet’s eyes. Now, the boy understands how the stars can illustrate his insignificance and the vast beauty of the universe. The boy is amazed not just by the stars; he is also amazed by his ability to find profundity in the seemingly mundane.

“They were both poets. He loved words. She loved grass and flowers and trees.”

Wordsworth and his dead wife are both poets in their way. While he expresses himself through words, she expresses herself through the garden. Both methods are viable forms of poetry as they seek to capture and share something beautiful about the world. Wordsworth allows the garden to become overwhelmingly wild as a tribute to his wife, hoping to fill his physical space with her art because he no longer has access to her.

“He did everything as though he were doing it for the first time in his life. He did everything as though he were doing some church rite.”

Wordsworth’s approach to life is to find beauty in each moment. In the wake of his wife’s death, he has a renewed appreciation for the novelty and the immediacy of life. He finds the mundane wondrous, viewing the world with a childlike delight that contrasts with the emotions of an actual child. The boy is already jaded by society. Seeing Wordsworth treat the world with an almost religious reverence reveals to him the importance of appreciating the subtleties of existence.

“The past is deep.”

The single line of Wordsworth’s poem that he shares with the boy hints are the problems inherent in his project. The past is deep but almost too much so, becoming unmanageable and uncontainable. Wordsworth wants to create a poem that will resonate with everyone, but the depth and profundity of the past are almost overwhelming. Wordsworth begins with a universal truth, but this truth overwhelms the poem, revealing the limitations of language. Neither the poet, the poem, nor the audience can comprehend the true depth of the past.

“This is a strange world.”

The strangeness of the world is expressed through mundane objects that are easily forgotten. Wordsworth teaches the boy to see the strangeness of a pin. A pin is a tool, used to make and repair clothing. It is an overlooked but essential part of society and, when it is dropped into the water, Wordsworth shows the boy how this element of modern life sinks beneath the truth of nature. The river swallows the pin with ease, and the slow sinking of the pin becomes a metaphor for the way the boy’s appreciation of nature has begun to change him.

“Isn’t that the funniest thing you have heard?”

Wordsworth tells the boy that the story about his wife was a lie. However, he frames his revelation as a great joke. The profound sadness in the poet’s voice hints that he is not telling the truth; instead, he is shielding the boy from the true tragedy of existence to keep him happy. The poet does not want the boy to suffer the same fate, left alone and unsatisfied in an old man’s body in a small and unmade bed.