Looking at the title, the first thing coming to the reader's mind is Wordsworth's intention of talking about a girl who was important for him; this title invites curiosity on the girl's identity, what are the undtrodden ways she decided to dwelt, and why she did it.

As to the layout, the poem is organized into three quartains, with lines of different length.

The first of these expresses the poet's purpose of introducing who this girl was: she's a young girl (a “Maid”), who nobody exalted and very few knew, or loved; the untrodden ways where she lived are near Dove's springs.

In the second stanza, Wordsworth says how even if the girls's beauty wasn't flashy, it existed: a unique, precious beauty who only few could really see.

The poet uses the third and last quartain to mark the importance She had for him, and his desperation when he discovered about her death, anonymous as her life.

Analyzing the poem in a connotative way, this presents some metaphors: in the second stanza the image of a violet covered by a mossy stone is used to express how the Maid's beauty couldn't be seen by the most; then the image of a shining and only star means the uniqueness and the preciousness of She. Maid, in the first quartain, has the capital “M”: this to underline her importance to the poet's life. There is, to help the rythm of the poem, the presence of different enjambements. There are two different uses of exclamation marks: one in the second, one in the last stanza: both mark two principal themes of the poem: the modest beauty of the girl, and the emptiness Wordsworth feels after her missing.

This last thought is underlined by an “oh”, that screams all Wordsworth's sense of impotence.