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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 he;
But she is in her grave, and, oh,
The difference to me!
SUMMARY
In the poem She Dwelt Among The Untrodden Ways, Wordsworth speaks about Lucy, a young beautiful girl who was very dear to the poet. The identity of Lucy has not been established. She died at a very young age and left the poet alone to himself with nothing but a sad and sweet memory of the past that was dead and could not be recalled. Who Lucy was, the poet does not tell us; but she figures in a large number of his poems and as such is a well-known lovely character of English poetry. Lucy is an ideal figure. What we gather about her from the four poems is as follows. She lived unknown in the countryside of England, like a violet half-hidden by a moss-covered stone, ‘but fair as a star when only one is shining in the sky’. There was no one to praise her and very few to love her. She had been brought up in the midst of nature. Nature had been her teacher, stimulating her to good actions and restraining her from evil ones. The clouds, the willow trees, the rivulets, even the storm contributed something to mold her form and her character. She has absorbed the gaiety of living creatures, vital feeling of delight as well as the calm peacefulness of lifeless things. Unfortunately, Lucy died young.