In "An Evening Walk" by William Wordsworth, what does the line "The echoes of your rocks my carols wild" mean?

Question

From the poem "An Evening Walk" by William Wordsworth (emphasis added): > FAR from my dearest Friend, 'tis mine to rove Through bare grey dell, high wood, and pastoral cove; Where Derwent rests, and listens to the roar That stuns the tremulous cliffs of high Lodore; Where peace to Grasmere's lonely island leads, To willowy hedge-rows, and to emerald meads; Leads to her bridge, rude church, and cottaged grounds, Her rocky sheepwalks, and her woodland bounds; Where, undisturbed by winds, Winander sleeps 'Mid clustering isles, and holly-sprinkled steeps; Where twilight glens endear my Esthwaite's shore, And memory of departed pleasures, more. > Fair scenes, erewhile, I taught, a happy child, **The echoes of your rocks my carols wild:** The spirit sought not then, in cherished sadness, A cloudy substitute for failing gladness, In youth's keen eye the livelong day was bright, The sun at morning, and the stars at night, Alike, when first the bittern's hollow bill Was heard, or woodcocks roamed the moonlight hill. What does the line "The echoes of your rocks my carols wild" mean?

Answer 1

What makes this line difficult to understand is the inversion of the sentence structure. Because the words are not in an order familiar to more modern readers, it is difficult to interpret the meaning. In order to interpret this particular phrase, you need the whole sentence: "Fair scenes, erewhile, I taught, a happy child, / the echoes of your rocks my carols wild." My best rephrasing of the core idea here, is "I was a happy child, who taught my wild carols to the echoes of your rocks." He is literally saying that, as a child, he taught the echoes of those rocks to sound like his favorite childhood songs ("carols"), which he probably sung very loudly and "wildly." What he is describing, less literally, is his childhood self wandering among the echoing rocks, singing loudly and wildly. It is a vivid and nostalgic description of a happy, imaginative child.

I hope this helps! I would love to discuss this poem with you more in-depth, if that would be of help.