Structure

• The poem begins with the end of the day and the warm light of the setting sun reflecting in the cottage windows
• In the middle of the poem, the young Wordsworth ignores his mother’s calls to come in for his tea and instead delights at skating with the other boys from the village. They are playing tag and chasing each other across the ice and this reminds Wordsworth of a pack of hounds hunting a fox.
• The end of the poem reflects the end of the day as the sun sets and the star appear