At the start of the poem, the speaker is enraged and disgusted by the presence of his younger brother. The poem's tone reflects the speaker's mental condition. The tone of the poem alters when the oldest brother begins running with his friend Paul. The tone shifts as well. When the friend returns, the older brother no longer wants to go looking for him. In fact, he tries to stop his friends from leaving. Finally, the two boys do find their way back home, but only after they have spent the night away from there. The original version of the poem was written in 1827 by William Wordsworth. It appears in his collection of poems called Poems by Wordsworth.