Wordsworth’s Sibling Logic: “We Are Seven” and “Tintern Abbey”

Abstract

ABSTRACTThis essay proposes that the logic of sibling kinship—in particular, siblinghood’s inter-subjective, networked, and horizontal forms of relationality—enhances our understanding of William Wordsworth’s poetic subject. Focusing on sibling-oriented works across Lyrical Ballads, including “Lines written a few miles above Tintern Abbey” and “We are Seven,” I consider how the poet’s vision of selfhood extends beyond an inclusive, solitary “egotistical sublime” to incorporate, instead, a multi-dimensional sense of interconnectedness with others. Such sibling inter-subjectivity, this piece argues, proves to be far more integral to Wordsworth’s poetic identity than occasional references to his sister Dorothy have otherwise implied. While Wordsworth’s sibling speakers reflect historical realities of family systems during the late eighteenth century, I demonstrate how these poeticized siblings also reverberate with contemporary notions of queer temporality, as they embody Wordsworth’s consciousness of an interdependent past, present, and future.