Textual analysis – “She Dwelt among the Untrodden Ways”

I am going to analyse William Wordsworth’s poem “She Dwelt among the Untrodden Ways”.

Considering the title, it invites to think about the identity of the “She”, but it also makes the reader reflect upon the terms “untrodden ways”: why does she live there, isolated from the others? Looking at the words used in the title we could note an archaic use of language, which contributes creating a sense of a remote past.

About the layout, the text is arranged into three quartrains with lines of different length with irregular rhymes. Each stanza reminds to the presentation of the girl.

The first stanza introduces the figure of the lady : he describes her as “a Maid” who lives in Scotland, “Beside the springs of Dove”, isolated and hidden from the crowd, into the nature.

In the second stanza there is a comparison with elements from the rural world to describe the girl’s beauty. The poet gives a positive lady's imagine, whose beauty appears to be unique.

The last quatrain deals with the premature passing of the maid, whose identity is now revealed, satisfying the reader’s curiosity: her name was Lucy, and her death made a great sofference to the poet.

As regards the connotative analysis, the text presents a simple language, but there is a particular “echo effect” that gets the poem to display the poet’s emotions linked to his memory of the girl. Enjambments contribute to create a fluent narration, making the text comparable to a ballad. It is also evident an use of exclamations marks, they contribute to give the text an emotive characterisation. Often are used long valued sounds, which helps to create the idea of a undefined place where Lucy lives, isolated from the world. Another element of mystery regards the identity of the girl: her name is revealed only in the last stanza, so the reader is encouraged to continue the reading to know her name. The intelligent reader could realise, making a particular resource, that the name “Lucy” implies the word “light”, so it is possible that the name represents the meaning she had for the poet.

There is a large use of metaphors and also terms of the rural world (violet, mossy stone...), used as terms of comparison to describe Lucy.

At the end, the message conveyed by the poet is that time always run, and we can't do anything, but we can live without being scared of loving someone.