Lucy Gray Analysis

Oft I had heard of Lucy Gray:

And, when I crossed the wild,

I chanced to see at break of day

The solitary child.



No mate, no comrade Lucy knew;

She dwelt on a wide moor,

--The sweetest thing that ever grew

Beside a human door!



You yet may spy the fawn at play,

The hare upon the green;

But the sweet face of Lucy Gray

Will never more be seen.



"To-night will be a stormy night--

You to the town must go;

And take a lantern, Child, to light

Your mother through the snow."



"That, Father! will I gladly do:

'Tis scarcely afternoon--

The minster-clock has just struck two,

And yonder is the moon!"



At this the Father raised his hook,

And snapped a faggot-band;

He plied his work;--and Lucy took

The lantern in her hand.



Not blither is the mountain roe:

With many a wanton stroke

Her feet disperse the powdery snow,

That rises up like smoke.



The storm came on before its time:

She wandered up and down;

And many a hill did Lucy climb:

But never reached the town.



The wretched parents all that night

Went shouting far and wide;

But there was neither sound nor sight

To serve them for a guide.



At day-break on a hill they stood

That overlooked the moor;

And thence they saw the bridge of wood,

A furlong from their door.



They wept--and, turning homeward, cried,

"In heaven we all shall meet;"

--When in the snow the mother spied

The print of Lucy's feet.



Then downwards from the steep hill's edge

They tracked the footmarks small;

And through the broken hawthorn hedge,

And by the long stone-wall;



And then an open field they crossed:

The marks were still the same;

They tracked them on, nor ever lost;

And to the bridge they came.



They followed from the snowy bank

Those footmarks, one by one,

Into the middle of the plank;

And further there were none!



--Yet some maintain that to this day

She is a living child;

That you may see sweet Lucy Gray

Upon the lonesome wild.



O'er rough and smooth she trips along,

And never looks behind;

And sings a solitary song

That whistles in the wind.

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willioam wordsworth is amazin.lucy is truly a symbol of nature,..neglected and treated lyk crap!its only until we lose that w'l realise itz importance and significance.
tanaka

| Posted on 2009-11-03 | by a guest

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I chose this poem for my recital...i just simply liked it!!

| Posted on 2009-09-25 | by a guest

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I didn’t believe that Lucy was a real character but a symbol or spirit like manifestation that is closely affiliated to nature and appears to be just that- nature.
In a modern context it can be conceived that this issues a warning on the exploitation of nature. Lucy could represent natural beauty or productivity which humanity takes for granted and abuses, seen through the orders of the parents. Where the parents are indicative of society and the pressures it places on the environment, the bridge can be seen as the point or boundary which limits human involvement and when Lucy crosses it, society has pushed nature too far. Also the apparent confusion experienced by Lucy when she goes out to complete her duty can reflect the disorientating effect human interference has the environment and ecosystems where animals and plants are forced to adjust their behavioural patterns, thus perplexing themselves and others.
Furthermore upon studying the teachings and beliefs of several Romantic poets, including John Locke, Jean Jacques Rousseau and William Blake, Lucy can be seen to follow an innocence cycle or specifically the transition from innocence to experience. The parents can represent society which has a negative effect on the youth by both corrupting it and removing its innocence. Or they can be seen as her tutors whose main task is to preserve a child’s innocence or to protect the youth form the evils of society. Nevertheless the parents fail in their duties, akin to the way Victor Frankenstein insufficiently lives up to his parental responsibility towards the monster, and Lucy is trapped in a storm, the negative influence of society. Hence she crosses the bridge of childhood and innocence and into adulthood and experience. This is why the parents can’t seem to find her but the poet insists she lives on- she is now an adult and different in incarnation to what she was before hand.
well thats wat i think anyway

| Posted on 2009-07-24 | by a guest

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great poem!!! ths who said that this is crap.. its becuz u gus dont know the beauty of poetry all you guys care is abt our daily luxurious life... you guys should think how hard was their daily life compare to guys!!!

| Posted on 2009-06-15 | by a guest

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Would there be something symbolised within the joining of the small hand and the lantern???
thanks for all your analysations as they show true insight and really helped with ideas for my own analysation. :) x

| Posted on 2009-05-12 | by a guest

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to "literature is fustrating" your english is obviously not very good so im guessing you dont read alot, if u cannot even write properly i do not think that you should put forward your opinion as it is of no use to anyone else.

| Posted on 2009-03-08 | by a guest

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lucy gray was a pure child, there's God in her(according to Wordsworth) and she has not yet been touched by evil thoughts or anything devil!
she's very obedient to her parents and is very eager to go see her mother! but before reaching the latter, she died(a tragic one)
here, we note Wordsworth pantheistic belief that God is everywhere and the child is 'living again' as if it is after death that she has formed this oneness with Nature...

| Posted on 2009-02-16 | by a guest

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this poem wants to teach us that children have to carry as many responsibilities they can handle and not more.

| Posted on 2009-02-10 | by a guest

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I thought the poem described the blurred line between life and death.
"They followed from the snowy bank
Those footmarks, one by one,
Into the middle of the plank;
And further there were none!"
The bridge could be considered a symbol of change, and how Lucy vanished in the very center of it, hence she is dead, but still "a living child" and she has blended into the natural wilderness that she cherished so much.

| Posted on 2009-01-04 | by a guest

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I think it is important to note all of the language that Wordsworth devotes to equating Lucy more with nature than with the life of a human. "The sweetest thing that ever grew / beside a human door!" (ll.7-8)Notice the juxtaposition. Lucy is growing next to the human door. Also take note of the other instances when she is compared to an animal (ll. 9-12, 25). Look to the usual tenets of Romanticism for more understanding of her love for nature.
Lucy can be assumed to be prepubescent because of her obedience as well as the comment that "no mate...she knew" (l.5). I realize that mate can mean friend but I think that this additional reading is valuable and should not be discarded.
Compare then this "sweet," obedient child with her rather gruff father. The violence of his actions in lines 21-4 seem a stark contrast to Lucy's syrupy goodness. Later when the parents go searching for the girl they are "wretched" (l. 33). Probably because of their worry but perhaps a commentary on their very nature as well.
Given these observations, Wordsword seems to give a noticeably partial treatment of Lucy while perhaps slightly vilifying the parents. The grown-ups just don't get it. It is only Lucy's youth and innocence that allows for a typical Romantic understanding of nature.

| Posted on 2008-12-19 | by a guest

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plz what r these comments i didnt get any benifit from them -- tomorrow is my exam -- may allah lead me 2 success -

| Posted on 2008-11-21 | by a guest

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William Wordsworth has five Lucy poems, and oddly enough, this isn't one of them. I have already analyzed two of the five poems for english class, and they are quite mystifying. I have no idea what this one is about, but the connection between nature and this girl's life is very definite.

| Posted on 2008-10-08 | by a guest

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Americans are truley ignorant creatures are they not?

| Posted on 2008-10-06 | by a guest

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honestly, how can you enjoy reading and analysing this shit when it makes no sense. im gona fail english cos we have 2 write stupid ass essays on shit like this.omfg
| Posted on 2008-06-26 | by a guest
AMAZING POST, AMAZING

| Posted on 2008-09-25 | by a guest

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A beautiful connection between children and nature:)
I really like this poem, the way Wordsworth connects nature and Lucy...how nature which Lucy was so close to was the thing that took her life, likewise God who Wordsworth was close to 'took' the life of his mom. Also, one may deduce from the poem that when lucy was alive, she 'had no mate, no comrade' which is not usual of children as one expects to see them playing around with other kids, it may suggest that when she was alive, it was as if she were dead; but now when she's dead with her oneness with nature she's alive:)

| Posted on 2008-09-14 | by a guest

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Yoyoyo this poem is so gangsta i love this poem man. William Wordsworth be a playa hata and he know it. He was hatin on my family back in 1800 and he put a cap in ma great great great great granddadda and he is a gangsta

| Posted on 2008-09-02 | by a guest

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Lucy gray is real because she is my nan and she is sitting next to me so clearly she isnt DEAD ! so whoever wrote that poem is right because my nan has a beautiful face.

| Posted on 2008-07-23 | by a guest

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This is a beautiful poem. It almost doesn't matter what it means - it is lyrical and lilting and falls on the tongue like a melody. I love the image of "no mate, no comrade" Lucy is free upon the moor - and happy it seems, even after being lost in a snowstorm, her spirit lingers on as part of the beautiful nature she grew up in. There is a sense of oneness with nature here. I wish to be so free. Wordsworth is truly worthy of his words.

| Posted on 2008-06-28 | by a guest

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honestly, how can you enjoy reading and analysing this shit when it makes no sense. im gona fail english cos we have 2 write stupid ass essays on shit like this.omfg

| Posted on 2008-06-26 | by a guest

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why do we have to study these dumb poems? this is all crap & shit!!!

| Posted on 2008-06-11 | by a guest

.: 1799 ~Lucy Gray~ :.

Lucy Gray, I believe is the imaginary creature Wordsworth creates to entertain an audience who lived under the expectations of society. Similar to Wordsworth himself,who questions his existence as a poet in some of his other poems.
By creating Lucy and especially in Lucy Gray, he is able to 'bridge' the pathway between heaven and hell and life and death.'In heaven we shall meet'-He is able to connect with this angel(Lucy)that is dead from the very beginning and is the Goddess who guides him to a better future.This quote could also be a possible message he said to his mother when she died or vice-versa.
Wordsworth personifies Lucy through Nature in a lot of his poems.Lucy is the dead,imaginary and 'solitary child', he is able to abide with.
And if none at all hes a sadistic pedophile who created imaginary little girls as his 'lovers',while fascinating over their death through the use of vivid imagery in his poetry!

| Posted on 2008-05-22 | by a guest

.: Crap :.

This is all crap dude i mean what does it have to do with our daily life neway, its all piece of shit !

| Posted on 2008-05-04 | by a guest

.: Literature is FRUSTRATING :.

I hate analyising literature! Its lame and annoying and frustrating. What the damn point of it. What d hell it have 2 do with your work life. Thats different if your a poet but for other who have to go through this crap. Dude....i feel sorry 4 y'all.

| Posted on 2008-04-08 | by a guest

.: boring boring :.

this poem is crap.It's sad how people spend time analyzing something for hours. Something so boring it puts me to sleep.

| Posted on 2008-03-27 | by a guest

.: Lucy Gray=drowned girl :.

Wordsworth, in the notes in the journal the poem is found in, explains where he gotthe idea for the poem. The poem is based off the account of a drowned girl he heard of through his sister. After the girl became lost in a snowstom, she wandered onto the middle of a lock of a canal, where her trail stopped. The body of the girl was found in the canal, downstream. Wordsworth admits to mystifying the story becaused it was to contrast George Crabbe's style of telling a story srictly from fact.

| Posted on 2008-03-09 | by a guest

.: lucy gray :.

this poem may be used as a methaphor to compare the life that lucy gray lived with the use of nature which may have led her to commit suicide, this is probably the battle of her trying to live up to her parents expectations but couldn't do so .

| Posted on 2008-02-07 | by a guest

.: ..:~).(~:.. :.

I believe this poem is an ode to something.
Someone or something.
Not only dose it explain how each charter stands in the setting , but it shows William's feelings about it personaly. As a outside party.
I do not know if Lucy was real...
Or just a emotional subject that William wordswoth created , But I think this poem....all of his poems have a beautiful moral and and are put together by a true geinus.

| Posted on 2008-02-07 | by a guest

.: solitude tid bits :.

Lucy gray has been the subject many of Wordsworth's poems. in this particular poem names after her(also called solitude) Wordsworth specks of the young girl. however, the way he begins the poem, it suggests that the girl was hardly seen, almost a legend of sorts. the ending also suggests this.
Wordsworth learns of the girl, (which proves her to be a real persona) from his sister Dorothy.

| Posted on 2008-01-31 | by a guest

.: Lucy Gray :.

the poem Lucy Gray is talking about an innocent girl who obeys the order of her parents. Lucy Gray at last is never found, but is said to be a living child for saticfication. I personnaly enjoyed the poem. William Wordsworth is one of my favorite poets. And I dont think Lucy in any stretch of imagination is related to William Wordsworth. He probalby heard about her and decided to put her in his poems.

| Posted on 2007-12-09 | by a guest

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We are studying William's poems in a class I am taking. And, still nobody knows who Lucy was.
As many poems William has written about her, we still do not know for sure.
I personally thouroughly enjoy reading Wordstworth. He is a brilliant poet. I can spend hours digging into his work, analizing the meaning, seeing details you do not see when first reading. So all in all, I do not know who Lucy is. ALthough, I have heard many opinions. But still...this poem is beautiful!

| Posted on 2007-08-29 | by a guest

.: Lucy :.

The mesage is simple. Lucy Gray is a Symbol of obedience, Selfishness innocence and bravery the way she obyed the order her father its really remarkable and poet is also highlisghts that this quality naturaly exists in all innocent children who have love for their parents, and lucy didnt died she has physically disappeared but can be seen singing in the forest

"Cause dying is also one of the acts of living"

| Posted on 2007-06-03 | by a guest

.: Innocence to Experience :.

Upon reading this poem for the first time, the conclusion I have drawn is that it tracks a child's journey from innocence into experience. The "storm [that] came on before its time" indicates how the responsibility placed on her by her parents has led her to grow up too fast. The parents lose the child they know and love as she turns into an adult and go out looking for her. They lose track of her footprints at the bridge - typically a symbol for change. Once she crossed to the other side, Lucy was no longer a child.

The idea that she may yet exist as a child is an interesting one when taken in lieu of the above reading. Possibly she is returning to her innocent state through the medium of the wilds. It could also be read as a warning to other parents and children to make the most of a brief and innocent childhood.

| Posted on 2007-04-28 | by a guest

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The poem Lucy Gray is one of love and mystery. Some people have expressed views that an incestral plot is the underlying theme, that then meaning that Lucy is Wordsworth's sister. The story is one of despair, a child lone, "No mate, no comrade Lucy knew," who goes into the wilderness to abide by her father's command and is never seen again. Although Wordsworth wrote in the ending, " Yet some... She is a living child", we need to look at whether it is his imagination or if he is speaking the truth. We need to look into ourselves to see if we choose to believe that Lucy will be found again, and what Lucy in fact really is; in reality, and to Wordsworth.

| Posted on 2005-09-19 | by Approved Guest