It has been said that Wordsworths Lucy poems have more differences than similarities Essay Example For Students

It has been said that Wordsworths Lucy poems have more differences than similarities Essay They were written chiefly with a view to ascertain how far the language of conversation in the middle and lower classes of society is adapted to the purposes of poetic pleasure. (William Wordsworth, Preface to The Lyrical Ballads). Unlike poets before him, who wrote poetry solely based upon classical subjects, Wordsworth wanted his poetry to imitate the actions and thoughts of people like himself. He also wrote poems containing personal subject matter, such as the group of poems known as the Lucy poems, written in conjunction with Samual Coleridge. This made his work strangely revolutionary at the time. This and the simple language of these poems (The Lyrical Ballads, 1798) show Wordsworth being extremely daring with his wish to get them published. The Lyrical Ballads were simply nothing like anyone had ever read before. The poems were intended as a revolution, as explained by Wordsworth in the Preface to the Lyrical Ballads. These poems are grouped together in The Lyrical Ballads, for many different reasons. The form the poems have is very similar. Four of the poems are made up of a number of quatrains with a rhyming pattern of A-B-A-B. The fifth poem, Three years she grew, is less direct. It is made up of sextets with rhyming pattern A-A-B-C-C-B. These regular rhythms to the poems add to the sense of similarity and also to the simplicity of the poems. The simplicity of the language Wordsworth uses is present in all of the poems, however one poem in particular is more elaborate than the others. The word order in Strange fits of passion is more complicated than in I travelled among unknown men. This is used to emphasise the words at the end of the sentence; and wayward thoughts will slide. Wordsworth aimed for this simplicity of language. Its almost child-like which was contrary to poets before Wordsworths time. Also unlike poetry before was the nature of the subject matter. Wordsworth wrote of his personal feelings. These poems are grouped together because they all focus on Wordsworths sense of loss for Lucy. He uses one particular method of doing this at the end of She dwelt among. He uses an apostrophe; and, oh the difference to me. This is also the very last sentence of this poem. It is also the first time he mentions himself. The apostrophe is used to emphasise the word me, but also to mimic a sobbing rhythm, which emphasises t he sense of loss he feels for Lucy. The poem, She dwelt among, concentrates solely on Lucy. Apart from the last word, the poem serves as an introduction to Lucy, informing us of Wordsworths feelings for her and also informing us that she is dead. This is different from the other poems as they mainly concentrate on Wordsworth and mostly mention Lucy only once or two times. This fact leads me to believe that this could be the first Lucy poem and is an introduction to the others. Conversely, the rhyming pattern and more elaborate language Wordsworth uses in Three years she grew, makes me think that this was not intended to be part of the same group as the other Lucy poems despite the similar subject matter. Wordsworth shows a strong sense of the natural world around him in all of his Lucy poems. This is one of the main recurring themes included in the poems. There is often nature speaking; Then Nature said, A lovelier flower' This is in Three years she grew. Wordsworth also uses this in Strange fits of passion. Here there is a preface to nature, What once to me befell, lasting one stanza, then a conclusion in the final stanza, What fond and wayward thoughts will slide. This encloses five quatrains of Wordsworth noticing the nature around him; All over the wide lea. In She dwelt among, Wordsworth says, A violet by a mossy stone half-hidden from the eye! this emphasises the sense of something only half being there, Thy mornings showed, thy nights concealed. When Wordsworth writes about this emotion he is referring to Lucy being dead, But shes in her grave, but part of her still existing in his mind, the memory of what has been. The poems also place Lucy in part of a balanced system in ear ths diurnal course. This is achieved principally in Three years she grew. Wordsworth achieves this by using a stanza full of oxymorons. Law and impulse, and glade and bower, are two examples. Wordsworth also describes Lucy as a rose in June in Strange fits of passion. By comparing Lucy to a rose he is telling us that as roses in June dont last, Lucy wont last. This is contrary to the violet in She dwelt among, which is a rare flower signifying Lucys beauty and bashfulness. In Strange fits of passion, Wordsworth mentions an orchard-plot. This may represent a likeness to the Garden of Eden, which in turn signifies Wordsworths feelings that Lucy is heavenly, almost goddess-like status. In this poem, Strange fits of passion, there is a strong sense of attachment to the landscape emphasised by the continuous reference to the hill, and the wide lea. In the same poem, Wordsworth brings in a very tight focus on ordinary things and makes them seem special; My horse moved on, hoof after hoof. This is induced by: one of those sweet dreams. A Comparison of Love Poetry EssayIt is about a one-way emotional exchange between Wordsworth and Lucy. This is different from She dwelt among which does not speak of Wordsworths emotions. Both stanzas are also to do with passage of time; The touch of earthly years. There is also no sense of location in the poem. Differing to these poems is the poem Strange fits of passion. This poem commences with a preface to the narrative. This narrative tells of an actual event (Wordsworth approaching Lucys cottage on his horse), And, as we climbed the hill. As they climb the hill, Wordsworth says: Those paths so dear to me. This is a sharp contrast to the untrodden ways. In the conclusion to this narrative, in the final stanza, we see Wordsworth worrying about Lucy. We find out that she is not actually already dead; If Lucy should be dead! this is also a contrast to the other poems where Lucy is already dead. This adds drama and suspense to the poem, which entices the reader. I think this is a key effect, which makes this poem different from the other Lucy poems. The poem I travelled among unknown men, brings in a third party which none of the other poems have. What love I bore to thee. Here, Wordsworth isnt talking about Lucy. He is in fact speaking of his love for England. He has gone to France but realised how much he misses his homeland and what it contains, Lucy. He uses personification to describe England, to love thee more and more. I think that this works well in conjunction with his effective use of metaphor and simile when describing Lucy. It also brings variation into the Lucy poems, which works to differentiate this poem from the others. The way in which Wordsworth varies Three years she grew is to use a different rhyming pattern and by using sextets in place of quatrains. I think this makes the poem differ too much from the others and I would not include it in the same group as the four other Lucy poems. It also is narrative, but it is nature narrating; This child I to myself will take. This means it is less about Wordsworths feelings which makes it differ. This shows that the poems contradict each other in many ways. Lucy is the only real constant in each of the poems. Lucy is the person with which the poems are concerned. But who is Lucy? To find out we need to examine the evidence presented in the poems. There are many clues presented to us as to Lucys life. As to her age, a maid (meaning virgin). This implies that she is young. However, she is old enough to have a profession and work as a spinner Turned her wheel. She does this in her own house, Lucys cottage, which is perhaps in solitude away from any of her family and friends: she lived unknown, and very few to love. We also find out that Wordsworth was having a relationship with her: The joy of my desire. If Wordsworth was writing about a real-life love, she could have been perhaps Annette Vallon, the women he had a relationship with while in France. However evidence in I travelled among unknown men (in France) points to Lucy being in England: Thy mornings showed thy nights concealed, the bowers where Lucy played. It might also have been Mary Hutchinson, his future wife. Some people also say that Lucy is really Dorothy, his sister. It is also thought that Wordsworth was, consciously or not, having some feelings for her. His extreme guilt at such feelings explains why Lucy is killed off in the poems! However, I prefer to think of Lucy as, above all, one or more imaginary creations of Wordsworths own fertile psyche. It is obvious to me that there are many similarities and also many differences between these poems. I believe that these differences were inevitable in order to make the poems as varied as possible but at the same time intending them to be taken as a group. This groups intention was to describe figments of Wordsworths imagination known only to us as Lucy.