She Dwelt Among The Untrodden Ways

Fiction | Poem | Adult | Published in 1800

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Summary

Background

Poem Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Literary Devices

Form and Meter

“She dwelt among the untrodden ways” is a ballad composed in three quatrains, or four-line stanzas. A ballad usually tells a story, and is often romantic. A ballad’s rhyme scheme is consistent. In each stanza, either the first and third line will rhyme (ABAC) or the second and fourth lines will rhyme (ABCB). Wordsworth combines these techniques to use an ABAB CDCD EFEF rhyme scheme.

Wordsworth also uses the traditional “ballad meter”: tetrameter (four groups of unstressed followed by stressed syllables) in the A lines, and trimeter (three groups of unstressed followed by stressed syllables) in the B lines. There is some variation on the stresses in Lines 1, 5, 7, and 12, irregularity that enhances the idea that the speaker’s grief overcomes the rhythm.

Wordsworth uses the ballad form in this poem, as well as the poems “Lucy Gray” and “Strange fits of passions I have known,” to connect his work with regional folk songs. This enhances the idea that Lucy is unknown to others but is magical to the speaker.

Lineation

The way that lines break can dramatically enhance the emotions of a poem. “She dwelt among the untrodden ways” is a poem of two sentences: The first sentence is made up of the first two stanzas, while the third stanza encompasses all of the second sentence. The lines are enjambed, with lines ending partway through a sentence, so their meaning is only comprehensible when read collectively. This allows Wordsworth’s speaker to use the first two stanzas to describe Lucy, emphasizing that her loveliness is both ephemeral and natural. Due to the enjambment, the lines break on either descriptions pertaining to nature—like “Dove” (Line 2), “stone” (Line 5) or “sky” (Line 7)—or the speaker’s hidden emotions regarding her. The words “praise” (Line 3), “love” (Line 4) and “only one” (Line 7) subliminally draw attention to feelings the speaker holds for Lucy that the world does not. The sentence that makes up the last stanza brings news of Lucy’s death. The emphasis is more emotional, focusing on words like “know” (Line 9) and “be” (Line 10) to render the dawning of the awful truth. Line breaks also enhance the speaker’s ultimate grief with “oh” (Line 11) and “me” (Line 12). The poem’s form thus echoes its themes.

Assonance

The use of the exclamation “oh” (Line 11) effectively shows the speaker’s grief, which cannot be contained and bursts forth in a lament. However, this outburst has been gradually prepared by Wordsworth’s use of assonance, or the repetition of a particular sound or group of sounds. In this case, the poem has repeatedly used words that feature the sound O.

The first stanza leans on the repetition of a more muted “oo” or “uh” sound in words like “among” (Line 1), “Dove” (line 2), “none” (Line 3), and “love” (Line 4). In the second stanza, the long O begins to be used; of particular note is the fact that this sound forms the slant rhyme of “stone” and “one.” The sound is then used twice by the speaker in the beginning of last stanza: “She lived unknown, and few could know” (Line 9). This shows the long O employed in quick succession. This increased use prepares us for the final “oh” (line 11), which points out how much Lucy’s death distresses the speaker. The careful use of assonance adds to the effect.

Related Titles

By William Wordsworth

Study Guide

A Complaint