Tuesday, October 18, 2011
Thoughts on Lucy Gray
I enjoyed reading the poem "Lucy Gray" by Wordsworth. I liked the simple rhythm, language, and story that mirrored the innocence of the child Lucy Gray. I liked the mystery of it - that we don't know what happened to her. I liked the progression, starting with a brief description of Lucy Gray, the story of what happened to her, and then musings about where she is now. The speaker begins by saying he "chanc'd to see at break of day/ The solitary Child," (3-4). Then he says later, "the sweet face of Lucy Gray/ Will never more be seen," (10-11). The reader now questions where Lucy Gray is, and even what she is. When Lucy Gray died, she became a part of nature. Her footmarks disappeared and she was nowhere to be found, as if she literally became part of nature. The speaker notes that she was "the sweetest Thing that ever grew/ Beside a human door" (7-8), as if she were never human but she grew by a human door. Her father told her to go out into the snowy night, and because of societal pressure she obeyed. She represents the consequences of societal constrictions, and also represents that the innocence of a child is closer to nature than an adult is.
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I like your point about how calling Lucy “The sweetest thing that ever grew / Beside a human door!” separates her from human dwellings and therefore humanity. She “dwelt on wide Moor,” which makes her life part of nature, so it is only fitting and in she should return to the moor, whether alive or dead. The fact she is “The sweetest thing” seems to imply that those people or things that grow near human constructions such as the door are rarely sweet and beautiful, so Lucy’s sweetness does not belong by the door, but out in nature.
ReplyDeleteI hadn’t thought about her disappearance being the consequence of societal restrictions though. She “gladly” agreed to take the lantern to her mother and she had little reason to fear the moor before the storm came. The fact she is not definitely dead and some claim she still wanders and sings happily on the moor suggests that the consequences for her were not as dire as could have been and her parents take comfort in the fact that “In Heaven we shall meet!” (42). There’s a wistful note to the poem and an air of mystery, but I don’t think the sadness is enough to serve as a true warning at the danger of societal restrictions.