Lyric Poem · Nature
My Heart Leaps Up
by William Wordsworth · 1807
My heart leaps up when I behold
A Rainbow in the sky:
So was it when my life began;
So is it now I am a Man;
So be it when I shall grow old,
Or let me die!
The Child is Father of the Man;
And I could wish my days to be
Bound each to each by natural piety.
Full-text availability follows the United States display decision recorded below; status can differ elsewhere.
“My Heart Leaps Up” by William Wordsworth — quilloak.com/poems/my-heart-leaps-up
Quick facts
- Poem
- My Heart Leaps Up
- Poet
- William Wordsworth
- Published
- 1807
- Length
- 9 lines
- Form
- Lyric Poem, Short Poems
- Themes
- Nature, Life, Short
Craft notes
How this poem works
Measured from the text on this page, not copied from a summary. Counts are approximate: syllables and rhymes come from the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary, which models General American English, so dialect, older pronunciation, and performance can all change what you hear.
- Shape
- 9 lines · one 9-line stanza
- End rhyme
- ABCCABCDE.
- Line length
- Mostly 8-syllable lines (tetrameter length).
Want the rules this form is measured against? Read what makes a lyric poem, or run your own draft through the form checker to see the same measurements on your lines. How we measure · Report a mistake
Text, source & rights
A traceable edition
Full-text display is based on the cited edition and a United States term-expiry review.
- Author record
- William Wordsworth1770–1850
- Source record
- WikisourceMy Heart Leaps Up by william-wordsworth, Wikisource transcription
- Display decision
- Full text · United States · reviewed 2026-07-18
- Publication record
- 1807
- Text fingerprint
- SHA-256 087b0a76e662bf9e…
- Editorial handling
- Whitespace and stanza breaks normalized for web display; no material wording change recorded.
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