Lucy Gray - William Wordsworth : Summary and Comments

Lucy Gray is one of the finest literary ballads written by William Wordsworth in blank verses. Below is the original text and a detailed summary of the poem.

Original Text of the Poem:

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 and Development of Thought in the Poem:

The poem Lucy Gray was written by William Wordsworth based upon a real account of the death of a little girl narrated to him by his sister Dorothy. In the poem, the poet portrays imagery of a little solitary girl who lived in a house in the valley with her father and mother. As she did not have any friends, her most of time was spent in playing alone or helping her parents. Wordsworth further progress by adding that one can get a chance to see a fawn or a rabbit while passing through those valleys (which are usually hard to trace) but you will never be able to see the innocent face of Lucy Gray.

Now Wordsworth takes us back to the sad incident. It was an afternoon and 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 anticipation storm. She left for the town but against the expected time, 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. Worried 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 patterns of Lucy’s small feet in the snow. They started following those 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.

Noticeable in this poem is that Wordsworth has not emphasized the death of Lucy but after her death her fusion with nature. He has tried to associate the boundaries of birth and death with this beautiful and calamitous ballad. Wordsworth as a poet of nature, in this poem, has associated the action of death with nature. After the death of Lucy also 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. Beautiful imagery, and similes are quite seen as the very flair of William Wordsworth.

Comments and Critical Appreciation of the Poem:

Lucy Gray was written by Sir William Wordsworth in 1799 and published in the second edition of ‘Lyrical Ballad’, a collection of poems by William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge in 1800. The poem states story of a little girl named Lucy Gray who died early on a story night in the countryside. She lived somewhere in the western countryside with her parents. The clue of living in Western Countryside is given in lines ‘The minster-clock has just struck two,/And yonder is the moon!" the moon is visible during daytime there. She had a small family and no friends. As a solitary child’ she had no mate or someone to talk to, play with, or share.

Poem Lucy Gray starts with a reference to a popular story of Lucy Gray. Wordsworth has represented Lucy as a child of nature. We can notice in the poem Lucy perhaps, is often used to help her parents in small house works because when her mother goes out of town, her father sends her to fetch her mother. But when the storm comes before the expected time, Lucy lost her way keeps searching for the right path, and mysteriously dies. The death of an innocent lonely child hits the reader deep and leaves an impact of sorrow. At the end of the poem, the poet takes the help of supernatural theory to keep Lucy alive. People still believe that Lucy is not dead and her spirit roams and sings the songs which whistle in the air. This supernatural theme indicates how strongly Lucy was attached to her town and singing her solitary song implies how lonely she was. The tragic end of the poem leaves an everlasting impact on the readers. 

The ballad is written lyrically. A scenic view stands in front of the eyes while reading the poem and imagery is widely used but nowhere seems to be in the excess. The unfortunate death of the little girl at the end of the poem and then keeping her alive in the hearts with the help of supernatural elements is its very own style of Wordsworth.

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