Text of the Poem

          to a young child

Márgarét, áre you gríeving
Over Goldengrove unleaving?
Leáves, like the things of man, you
With your fresh thoughts care for, can you?
Ah! ás the heart grows older
It will come to such sights colder
By and by, nor spare a sigh
Though worlds of wanwood leafmeal lie;
And yet you will weep and know why.
Now no matter, child, the name:
Sórrow's spríngs áre the same.
Nor mouth had, no nor mind, expressed
What heart heard of, ghost guessed:
It ís the blight man was born for,
It is Margaret you mourn for.

Footnotes

  1. The speaker emphasizes that the true source of sorrow is often felt by the heart rather than expressed by the mouth or mind. The blight or burden of being human is what Margaret mourns for.

    — Allegra Keys, Owl Eyes Editor

  2. The speaker draws a parallel between falling leaves and the transient nature of human existence. Margaret, with her fresh and youthful thoughts, is asked if she can care for the changing world around her.

    — Allegra Keys, Owl Eyes Editor

  3. The assonance-- repetition of the vowel sounds--in this line emphasizes the inevitability of growing colder to such sights.

    — Allegra Keys, Owl Eyes Editor