Lucy Gray by William Wordsworth (Poem & Summary)

 

Lucy Gray

by William Wordsworth

(Poem & Summary) 

Lucy Gray is a literary ballad written by William Wordsworth in blank verses. In this poem, Wordsworth has emphasized Lucy’s fusion with nature. Wordsworth, as a poet of nature, has associated the action of death with nature. After the death of Lucy, it is believed that she is alive and her song whistles in the air in the valley as if she has become part of nature.

 

Lucy Gray

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.

 

Summary

The poem Lucy Gray was written by William Wordsworth based upon a real account of the death of a little girl. The tale was narrated to him by his sister Dorothy. In the poem, the poet tells us about a little girl, who lived in a house in the valley with her father and mother. Since the girl did not have any friends, her most of time was spent in playing alone or helping her parents. One can get a chance to see a fawn or a rabbit but not the innocent face of Lucy Gray.

One afternoon, Lucy was at home with her father. Her mother had gone to the town. Her father took his hook and started to pile bundles and instructed Lucy to take the lantern and bring her mother safe before evening because they were anticipating storm. She left for the town but the storm arose earlier and Lucy lost the way. She searched for the way back home but could never find it. Her mother came back home. Her parents explored the entire valley the whole night to catch a sight of Lucy but she was nowhere found.

At the break of the day, her parents found marks of Lucy’s small feet in the snow. They followed the footprints which led them to the bridge of the wood which was only a furlong far from their house and after that prints disappeared. It was an indication that Lucy had died. Her parents lament for her. The dearest child of nature was gone. But it is still in belief that Lucy is alive and sings her solitary song in the valley.