Introduction and themes. (Please help me!)

[asad hussain]

Hi,
Could someone please have a through look at the introduction and themes of the poem below, and let me know if I have made any mistakes (whether grammatical or interpretational)?

Introduction
“Children” is one of the best loved poems of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. It illustrates many of his characteristics of his mode of writing. The rhymes and meters he has used in it cling to the mind long after the sense may be forgotten. The poem touches the heart through its strong theme which is how much children are important to the world. In the poem, Longfellow records his feelings about children. He feels that they enable us see the world more clearly, and enjoy our lives. He likens them and their thought to many entities, but admits they are better than all.


Major Theme

The major theme of the poem lies in its 4th stanza that children are our gateway to nature. They fill beautiful colors in the world and our lives with their innocence. If there were no children, the world and our lives both would be colorless and meaningless and soulless. There would be no lime light of hope, nor a tiny flicker of gaiety. The past would turn out to be a desert, and the future looming death.


Minor Theme

Aging, decaying and dying is the minor theme. Everything starts new and shiny and innocent, then gets older and less nice, and finally dies.

Children Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Come to me, O ye children!
For I hear you at your play,
And the questions that perplexed me
Have vanished quite away.

Ye open the eastern windows,
That look towards the sun,
Where thoughts are singing swallows
And the brooks of morning run.


In your hearts are the birds and the sunshine,
In your thoughts the brooklet's flow,
But in mine is the wind of Autumn
And the first fall of the snow.

Ah! what would the world be to us
If the children were no more?
We should dread the desert behind us
Worse than the dark before.

What the leaves are to the forest,
With light and air for food,
Ere their sweet and tender juices
Have been hardened into wood, --

That to the world are children;
Through them it feels the glow
Of a brighter and sunnier climate
Than reaches the trunks below.

Come to me, O ye children!
And whisper in my ear
What the birds and the winds are singing
In your sunny atmosphere.

For what are all our contrivings,
And the wisdom of our books,
When compared with your caresses,
And the gladness of your looks?

Ye are better than all the ballads
That ever were sung or said;
For ye are living poems,
And all the rest are dead.

[asad hussain]

[asad hussain]

Any help please!!!

[Tdol]

many of his characteristics- the
how much children are important- how important children are
enable us see - to
their thought- plural
in its 4th stanza- the and use a colon
lime light- I'd say simply light or ray

[asad hussain]

many of his characteristics- the
how much children are important- how important children are
enable us see - to
their thought- plural
in its 4th stanza- the and use a colon
lime light- I'd say simply light or ray

Dear Tdol,
It’s so nice of you for always being there to help me. I am very thankful to you. Please bear with me if I don’t thank you adequately. Because I think what you have done for me so far deserves a colourful bunch of thanks. I really appreciate your help, and respect your kind suggestions, comments and advices. I pray to God you get every good thing you want in your life.

I have made a few changes complying with your suggestions and comments. I will be flattered, if you help me with them too. The changes are indicated in blue.



Introduction

“Children” is one of the best loved poems of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. It illustrates many of the characteristics of his mode of writing. The rhymes and meters he has used in it stay in the mind long after the sense may be forgotten. The poem touches the heart through its strong theme of how much children are important to the world. In the poem, Longfellow records his feelings about children. He feels that they enable us to see the world more clearly, and enjoy our lives. He likens them and their thoughts to many things, but admits they are better than all.

Major Theme

The major theme of the poem is that children are our gateway to nature. They bring beautiful colours into the world and our lives with their innocence. If there were no children, the world and our lives both would be colourless and meaningless and soulless. There would be no light of hope, nor a tiny flicker of gaiety. The past would turn out to be a desert, and the future looming death.

A few notes

I have omitted ‘lies in the 4th stanza, because I think the following stanza contributes the main theme too. Now I want your suggestion on whether I start with The major theme of the poem, that children are our gateway to nature, lies in its 4th stanza. or just write The major theme of the poem is that children are our gateway to nature. I am quite confused here. I think it’s save not to specify the stanza the main theme lies in. Please give me your kind suggestions.

[Tdol]

I think it's OK not to specify the stanza.