Michael: Why a Poem from the 1800s Still Matters Today

William Wordsworth first published Michael in 1800. This 483 lines poetry depicts human relations, broken trust, and undying love. It could easily be misinterpreted as a poem only about rural England, of shepherds and of days gone by. But it is really a poem about fathers, sons, mothers, and a universal cycle of migration.

But before we start with the analysis — let me tell you that it took me some weeks — 3 to be precise — to read through the poem and figure out what it meant. As a reader, it is not some enticing prose you get it quite quickly — like in the first 10 lines, but it's not typical poetry either. The depiction of the quaint village life and the rest of the story — to a non-native English speaker like me — was a bit tough to understand. And it is all on me. Not the writer, or the story that excellently pivots through various stages of life.

Michael is an old man who lives with his wife Isabel and their late-born only son Luke. He is an old shepherd who spent his entire life working on his land. His wisdom, intelligence, and nature are deeply connected to his land. A place that gives him his identity and values. For the old couple — their only hope — their son Luke — who Michael wishes to inherit not only the land, but his values and way of life.

Things go bad when Michael loses half of his estate when he stands as guarantor for his financially misfortuned nephew. Following this — Michael plans to send Luke to London to stay with a businessman — with the aim of learning a trade and helping buy back the land.

The day Luke is to go to London, and the lines written by William Wordsworth — should be praised for the gravity and simplicity of the heavy-heartedness that every parent and every child would have felt while departing their childhood home. A father's vulnerability — “think of me, my son/ and of this moment" — is the only helpless yet powerful paternal support available to any of us. He also uses stones for the sheepfold as a promise and a moral anchor for Luke amid the urban influences caused by the physical and natural distance. He asks Luke to lay the first stone of the unhewn sheepfold - binding Luke's identity to the ancestral soil and with the promise that Luke would return to complete the incomplete task.

In a way, Michael would have known the fallacies of urban life — but I can only presume the expanse of the old man's wisdom. And what happened next — was the young boy Luke  is affected by the charms and temptation of urban life and falling into bad ways and eventually fleeing the country in shame. His promise to his old father, his land and his roots — remains broken.

What remains unchanged is Michael's love for his son — despite the broken promise or the inevitable economic ruin. Grief, though heavy and unbearable, does not diminish his love even as he visits the unfinished stone sheepfold. The only witness to this broken promise is the old stubborn oak tree and the piles of stones — outlining the deaths of Michael and Isabel — and Luke's escape overseas.

Given the time that passed since the poetry was published, it should have been buried, lost and forgotten — yet it remains relevant now more than ever.

Numerous times have I witnessed strong fathers like Michael, silent mothers like Isabel. And also Luke - so many of us. Whether it's the youth getting influenced by the temptation of migration, an iPhone, an EMI, or everything under the broad umbrella of a shiny urban life — this timeless poetry describes the pain of loss through the tired eyes of an old father. 

P.S.: A timeless tale of caution is never to stand in as a guarantor to anyone.