The analysis of “She Dwelt among the Untrodden Ways”

by William Wordsworth

I’m going to analyze William Wordsworth’s poem “She Dwelt among the Untrodden Ways” in order to discover the poet’s message and give my opinion after an accurate analysis of the text.

The title creates expectations in the reader, or rather it raises curiosity about the “she”, the reason why she lived “among the Untrodden Ways” and last but not least why these streets were not so attended. Simultaneously the reader focuses his attention on “Dwelt”, due to the fact that it is an archaic verb used by the poet to enhance the reader’s inquisitiveness.

The text is a poem of formal structure, it is arranged into three quatrains (stanzas of four lines each) – each one plays it own role -  where the lines are of different length and the rhymes are alternate (ABAB).

The poem starts with the introduction of the character, maybe a girl, “she” or a young woman, “A Maid” who “dwelt” alone, unrevealed and distant in Scotland near the “springs of Dove”, in close contact with nature.                                              The writer moves on describing the beauty of the girl, which is not immediately visible making a comparison and giving a judgment on a “she” still nameless and unidentified. That is done on purpose, hence the reader has still the curiosity to go on reading. Both the comparison – to a star – and the metaphor – a violet – are surely positive; the girl is precious because she is unique, thus the reader is invited to recognized her beauty, even if it is “half hidden from the eye”.              Finally, in the last stanza, the poet refers to her with the past tense and the reader’s curiosity is at last fulfilled. Her name is Lucy – few people knew her – but the poet does and her death makes a great difference for him.

Moving on with a more detailed connotative analysis, the reader can easily discover the use the poet make of an echo - effect with the aim of sharing his emotions, linked to his memory of the girl, with the reader. As a matter of fact there is a frequent use of exclamation marks to convey emotional effects, on the top of that they are in key – position at the end of the line so that one focuses on them.                                                                                                                        The idea of distance is created by the use of long sounds; the device serves the function of making the unknown surrounded the girl definite and concrete for the reader. The choice of words like “untrodden”, “none”, “very few”, “half hidden”, “only one”, “unknown” support and consolidate this idea as well. All that quoted so fare contributes to the curiosity of the reader that ends in the last stanza where the identity and the name of the girl is finally revealed. Her name is particularly relevant because Lucy involves the word “light” and therefore the reader can consider the girl as a bringer of light in the poet’s life. Thus the metaphor “A violet by a mossy stone” means for the poet that the girl is as a shy flower “half hidden from the eye”. Moreover the simile “fair as a star” underlines not only her magnificence but creates also a feeling of distance from other people. On the top of that describing the girl as a star “when only one is shinging” the poet conveys a sort of uniqueness to the forefront.                                                                                                            The poem is eventually characterized by a dramatic ending: Lucy “cased to be” and this was particularly relevant for the poet. The intelligent reader deduces his sadness from the word “oh”, arranged in key – position in order to underline the consequence of Lucy’s death in the poet’s life.  

At the end of this careful analysis it is easily recognizable that the message – that in my opinion is a current theme - lays in the very last sentence where the poet implicitly warns the reader of the consequences of non - acting. In fact, although the poet seems to be in love with Lucy he just observed her life without interfering, thus she died alone. Then the poet encourages and suggests the reader to catch opportunities and do not let them fading away, because time passes and you might deeply regret chances that slip through your fingers.