Dorothy Wordsworth

Dorothy Wordsworth never really published many works during her lifetime because she was being a supporter for her brother William who published many works as we read earlier. She had a few works published through her brothers journals in which he would note that they were written by her. We have three of her poems in our book. She shows how the female role is different in her poems than that role of a man. She is a soother and mother figure.
The poem I chose to focus on is "Address to a Child" which was a poem written for her nephew Johnny according to our text. Apparantly the child would get scared when the wind storms would come through. The bottom notes that in the poem she uses the name Edward to protect her nephew, however that is only a reference.
"But how he will come, and whither he goes There's never a Scholar in England knows." She is saying to the child that not even the smartest scholars in England can explain the wind or the path that the wind will take. She talks about how scary the wind can be even though you cannot see it. She says "Sometimes he'll hide in the cave of a rock; then whistle as shrill as the buzzard cock" I feel like she is trying to relate to the child and his fear of the wind throughout the poem by saying how the wind is like a "beast" or "bad guy". As if he comes in the night and when morning comes everything is alright besides the mess he left behind. In the line "As soon as 'tis daylight tomorrow with me You shall go to the orchard and then you will see That he has been there, & made a great rout" she points out how you can follow his path from the night before, even though you would never see him. She ends the poem by soothing the child by saying "may drive at the windows-we'll laugh at his din Let him seek his own home wherever it be Here's a cozy warm house for Edward and me" She is saying to the child that there is nothing to fear of the wind because he will not enter their cozy home.
This poem represents how Dorothy would have felt for her nephew. She lived with her brother William and his wife Mary and helped take care of their children. She was referred to as a third parent instead of an aunt. The speaker in the poem explains the wind througout the poem and gives security to the child in the poem. We cannot assume that Dorothy is the speaker in the poem, however there is good evidence that she is.