Wells (Symbol)
The most important symbol within the text is the various wells, but they are so significant that their presence is complex, signifying multiple things simultaneously. They certainly symbolize the carefree nature of childhood, since the speaker associates them with youthful exploration; but they also symbolize the self-discovery inherent in growing up, since the speaker uses them as a way to see and hear himself in new, unknown forms. Finally, they symbolize the creation of art, since the adult speaker uses poetry in much the same way that he once used wells. Moreover, each of these symbolic roles is related. In this poem, childhood adventure—the process of discovering the world—is inextricable from the process of self-discovery. Art and self-discovery are equally inextricable, since the poet explains that both poetry and wells help him see himself. One way to summarize these many interlocked symbolic meanings may be to say that wells symbolize curiosity in all its forms: curiosity about nature, about oneself, and about intellectual and artistic topics.
Roots (Symbol)
Plant roots, straightforwardly enough, symbolize the speaker's origins—his roots, in other words. In the poem, when the speaker pulls at the roots around a well, his own face is revealed in a reflection on the water's surface. On a literal level, the speaker has to engage with the external world in order to see himself. On the level of symbol, we can understand this to mean that the speaker must engage with his past—his family and cultural history, his youthful experiences—in order to make sense of himself. In both cases, he can see himself only by seeing his surroundings.
Repetition (Motif)
Our speaker enjoys hearing his own voice echoed back to him, in part because the echoed voice sounds somewhat different from his original call—cleaner and more musical. The echo, then, takes something deeply familiar to the speaker and, through repetition, renders it wonderfully strange and new. We also witness the satisfaction of repetition and change in reflections. Like echoes, reflections take part of the speaker and then return it to him in a way that seems utterly new. As an adult, the speaker seeks that same satisfaction in rhyme, which also involves the repetition of subtly different, but interrelated, sounds. In this poem, repetition is a source of clarity and elucidation.
