SHE DWELT AMONG THE UNTRODDEN WAYS

The title immediately draws the attention due to the use of two remote words. This might mean the poem was written a long time ago, or that the poet wanted to draw the attention of the reader on languages itself. The two words are not only remote: they are also the longest in the title.

The text seems to refer to a she: this might mean the “she” may be an old woman, a young girl or an innocent child.

The reader doesn't know yet and he might be interested to find it out. In addition he should be curious to discover why the “she” lives or has chosen to live in hidden places.

Textual analysis could also unveil the reason why the poet wrote a poem about her.

It's a poetical text written by William Wordsworth and arranged in three quatrains, probably a ballad because of the simple language. A ballad is a narrative poem, intended to be sung, consisting of simple stanzas and usually having a refrain. The rhyme scheme is abab, cdcd, efef. Moreover, the final syllables of lines five and seven (stone and one) constitute an eye rhyme rather than a sound rhyme.

After I read the poem, I understood that is about a woman, whose name was Lucy, who lived in a hidden places near the springs of Dove, and was very important for the poet: at line twelve the words “the difference to me” underlines her importance for the poet.

The title is repeated at line one, in which the repetition of sound “d”, that is a dental and heavy consonant, underlines the hidden places where she live.

We can't know her name until line ten, where is written the name “Lucy”. Moreover Lucy is described as a “violet by a mossy stone” and “half hidden from the eye”, and this let me think that she was beautiful and that at first she didn't appear as she really was.

In addition to that, Lucy is compared to a star by the simile “Fair as a star”, that highlights her beauty.

In the last quatrain the sentences “when Lucy ceased to be” and “the difference to me” suggest me that Lucy was very important for the poet, and the line nine let me think that he is the only one who can understand her.

In conclusion, I think the poet wrote a poem about a woman who lived in a hidden place because she was a special person for him.