“Lucy Gray”

William Wordsworth’s “Preface to Lyrical Ballad” includes the does and don’t of poetry. Within these suggestions, Wordsworth pays particular attention to the concept of nature, relatable content to the common man, and the structure of the poem itself. His own work,  “Lucy Gray”, demonstrates an application of his own rules to a piece of poetry. 

Wordsworth, along with his Romantic era contemporaries, displayed an admiration and devotion to nature that was often encompassed into their writing. “Lucy Gray,” tells the story of a little girl who is lost while traveling in between her home and town. Wordsworth included a constant description of the natural setting while narrating the story of Lucy with such lines as, “You yet may spy the Fawn at play/ The Har upon the Green…” (10-11, 195). Nature is mentioned in nearly every stanza and is used in tandem to the events unraveling in the story, especially as Lucy’s parents search for her. The poem describes the hills they climbed while looking for her and the snowprints that she left behind. The second to the last stanza hints that Lucy has either become a nature spirit or a ghost. Either interpretation displays the emphasis of nature being a place that transcends human life. The fact that Lucy is lost on the way from her country home to town should be noted. Woodsworth’s romantic ideals would have placed an urban setting as the least desirable place to go. Lucy’s disappearance can be interpreted as Woodsworth commenting on the loss of innocence and purity as humanity shifts from nature to industry. 

According to “Preface to Lyrical Ballad”, Wordsworth felt a strong desire to write in a way that could be understood by anyone, without the fanciful and ever changing jargon used by an educated, upper-class. “Lucy Gray” is a easy to follow, relatable story for the common man. The reader would’ve understood the dangers of venturing into nature, and the emotions felt by the parents when looking for Lucy. Perhaps a similar event could have happened in the reader’s own life. 

Keeping his audience in mind, Wordsworth used figurative language very briefly in “Lucy Gray”. His wording is very simple and is easily read through the structure of the poem. Although Wordsworth spoke unfavorably of meter, his use of the quatrain and his rhyming scheme help the flow of the poem. This ballad-like structure would allow the reader to easily memorize the poem and recite it as a warning to children walking to town.