Lyric Poem · Nature

My Heart Leaps Up

by William Wordsworth · 1807

Reading room

1My heart leaps up when I behold

2A Rainbow in the sky:

3So was it when my life began;

4So is it now I am a Man;

5So be it when I shall grow old,

6Or let me die!

7The Child is Father of the Man;

8And I could wish my days to be

9Bound each to each by natural piety.

Full-text availability follows the United States display decision recorded below; status can differ elsewhere.

Tip: click any line number to copy a ready-made citation for that line.

“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).

The poem’s silhouette — approximate syllables per line, measured from the text above. Even bars mean a measured line; ragged bars mean the poem sets its own widths.

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.

Jurisdiction-specific, never a worldwide claimRights policy Report a text or rights issue

Lyric Poem Short Poems Nature Life Short

Keep reading

She Walks in Beauty

Lord Byron · 1814

She walks in beauty, like the nightOf cloudless climes and starry skies;And all that's best of dark and bright

18 lines · lyric

Love's Philosophy

Percy Bysshe Shelley · 1819

The fountains mingle with the riverAnd the rivers with the ocean,The winds of heaven mix for ever

16 lines · lyric

When You Are Old

W. B. Yeats · 1893

When you are old and grey and full of sleep,And nodding by the fire, take down this book,And slowly read, and dream of the soft look

12 lines · lyric

More nature poems →