A Hero and a Great Man — Context and Discussion

Rhyme as a Vehicle for Social Observation

The text is composed entirely in rhymed verse, with a consistent meter that gives the narrative a fable-like cadence. The great man is introduced through repetitive, almost incantatory lines: 'He likes to be seen. / He likes to be heard.' This structural choice reinforces his performative nature. In contrast, the 'freak' is described with more varied syntax and internal rhyme, such as 'His methods were strange and new. / A different world his eyes would see.' The rhyme scheme itself becomes a tool for character differentiation—the great man's sections feel predictable and self-satisfied, while the freak's passages allow for more irregular, thoughtful rhythms.

Two Competing Definitions of Greatness

The narrative explicitly contrasts two models of greatness. The great man is defined by public recognition: 'He is well respected. / He enjoys much recognition. / He hopes to be selected / For a prestigious position.' His need for admiration is presented as a consuming drive: 'As greatness is a need / This need is his fate. / He is as great indeed, / As his need to feel great.' The freak, by contrast, values solitude and thought: 'He values his peace. / He is devoted to thought. / This is his release.' Yet the freak is also searching—'He never felt the peace / That he needed to feel'—suggesting that neither figure fully embodies an ideal.

The Unresolved Question of the Sun

A key episode involves two girls asking the great man, 'Where does the sun go at night?' He cannot answer and 'covertly looked about' for an escape. A passing stranger—the freak—offers an explanation, though the excerpt cuts before his answer is given. This unresolved question functions as a test of knowledge versus performance. The great man's reliance on 'delay' and evasion contrasts with the freak's willingness to engage. The girls later return to comfort the freak, calling the great man 'a great man indeed,' which the freak accepts. The ending leaves the reader to weigh whether the great man's public stature is earned or merely assumed.

Readers should attend to how the verse form shapes the moral argument: the great man's sections often use end-stopped lines and simple rhymes, while the freak's passages employ enjambment and more complex sound patterns. The epigraph from Aesop invites comparison to classical fables, but the work resists a tidy moral—the final line, 'He is a great man indeed,' is spoken by children, leaving its irony or sincerity open to interpretation.

Years among these shelves have taught me how ambition often shouts past the quiet hours that shape a soul. The verse-narrative's boasted hero finds his echo, or perhaps his answer, in Wordsworth's patient meditations—one clamors for the world's eye, the other learns to see without it. Both speak of what we choose to value, though only one invites us to sit a while and listen. The Poetical Works of William Wordsworth — Volume 3 (of 8) — A Closer Reading holds that quieter conversation, waiting for a reader who already understands.