She dwelt among the untrodden ways

 

She dwelt among the untrodden ways

Beside the springs of Dove,

A Maid whom there were none to praise

And very few to love:

A violet by a mossy stone

Half hidden from the eye!

Fair as a star, when only one

Is shining in the sky.

She lived unknown, and few could know

When Lucy ceased to be;

But she is in her grave, and, oh,

The difference to me!

Analysis

 

The title immediately draws the attention due to the use of two rather removed 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 that 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.

The layout helps the reader to understand that this is a ballad because it is organized into the quatrain. The structure consist of three stanzas of four lines with an alternate rhymes. In the first stanzas the poet introduces some information about the protagonist. In the second stanzas the narrator attention moves on lady character. The last stanza reveals that the woman’s name is Lucy and the importance for him.

The poem conveys both the feelings of solitude and ecstasy related the condition of Lucy. In the entire poem the narrator doesn’t explain why Lucy lived in a hidden place, maybe was her choice. The poet describes the woman with two metaphors, appealing to the image of a half hidden flower, a violet and to the fair of Venus.

The last sentence is one of the most important parts to understand the text. Only watching her dying he regrets to have done nothing; so the message he want to hand down is that the time pass and we have not enough time to wait, if we want to do something we have to be decided, because if we aren’t it can be to late.