Characters and speaker

The poem “The Tables Turned” by William Wordsworth presents the main character (also the speaker), who borrows the voice of the poet himself. The whole poem becomes an address to the reader, who is invited to leave books aside and focus on the connection with nature.

The first stanza presents the reader, who becomes personified through the character of the author’s friend. The expression “my friend” is used twice in the first stanza; the possessive adjective “my” shows the fact that the poet feels connected to his friend (and, implicitly, to the readers):

“Up! up! my Friend, and quit your books;
Or surely you’ll grow double:
Up! up! my Friend, and clear your looks;
Why all this toil and trouble?” (p. 204, ll. 1-4)

The speaker seems to already have conn...