TITLE: In the title the writer uses archaic forms like “dwelt” and “ untrodden” maybe the text are setted in the past; the protagonist is a woman who lives in an untrodden place.

LAYOUT: The reader can see that the text is structured in three stanzas of four lines so it is a ballad

DENOTATIVE AND STRUCTURAL ANALYSIS: In the first stanza the speaking voice says the woman lives in a distant place: near the springs of Dove, and she was a young lady who was not appreciated because nobody know her.

The function of this stanza is to introduce the girl from an external point of view  and to set where she lives.

In the second stanza he compares the girl with a violet who lives among stones covered by musk and  you could hard see it. In the same stanza the narrator gives a judgement  and tells the reader that she was very nice looking and that she remained a star that shining alone in the sky.

The function of the second stanza is to give the reader a very positive idea of the girl through the expression of her personality, of her strong points that made her a rare creature.

In the third stanza the speaking voice tells the reader that very few people knew her and only few people had the opportunity to meet her. It follows that when Lucy die she was buried in her grove and this made a great difference from the narrator.

The intelligent reader intuits  that the speaking voice had a positive opinion of Lucy but he missed her because she is dead.

CONNOTATIVE ANALYSIS: The rhythm are give from the alternation between open and close vowels and the ballad has an alternate rhymes scheme: it underline the contrast between Lucy's close personality and her importance for the narrator. The same name Lucy focus on this contrast because are composed by close vowels but means light.

The run-on-line in the first/second line and the use of long vowels give a eco-effect that reinforce the idea of the vastness where the lady are lose.

The metaphor in the second stanza suggest that she was shy and not vain and the simile that she was   however precious because she was rare.

CONCLUSION: The message of the ballad is that some people who seems insignificant could be  more precious than the others if you know better them.