ENGLISH LITERATURE (CBSE/UGC NET)

Detailed explanation-1: -THE Child Is The Father Of The Man is an idiom given to the world by famous poet William Wordsworth. It first appeared in his poem “My Heart Leaps Up” that was out in 1802. It means that the behaviour and activities of a person’s childhood go a long way in building his personality.

Detailed explanation-2: -It is only now that I better understand what William Wordsworth meant by “The child is the father of man”. For, I see them becoming ever more childlike, each in his or her own way, as they add numbers to their age.

Detailed explanation-3: -According to the poet, child is the father of man because childhood is the beginning of the manhood. In other words, the qualities of the grown up men are all derived from childhood. At last, the poet wishes that his remaining days would be bound by his love to nature.

Detailed explanation-4: -Line 7. The Child is father of the Man; This is, perhaps, the most important line of ‘My Heart Leaps Up’.

Detailed explanation-5: -He is saying here that his childhood formed who he is as an adult-his self, as a child, fathered, or gave birth to, his adult self. It seems the speaker treasures the fact that he still has a childlike capacity for wonder. Also note the capitalization of the words “Child” and “Man” in this line.