Thoughts on Wordsworth and Lucy Gray

Diving into the work of William Wordsworth was at first challenging for me, as I am more used to contemporary ideas and works, however his thoughts on poetry are both intriguing and eye opening. I have quickly adjusted to his poetic style and found myself enjoying his work more and more as we have delved into it.

Wordsworth believed that poetry should apply to the common people- not just be some sort of secret language understood only by other poets. He felt somewhat of a duty or responsibility to use his “gift” to be able to communicate what a normal person may be unable to put to words, but that all humans universally feel. Wordsworth stated this idea in “Preface to Lyrical Ballad” saying that poets need to “choose incidents and situations from common life and to relate or describe them, throughout, as far as was possible, in a selection, of language really used by men; and at the same time throw them over them a certain coloring of imagination.” This idea was revolutionary because poems that at one time were only able to be encrypted and understood by other poets were now more accessible and understood by the common man, while evoking creativity that they could not articulate on their own.

My favorite poem that we have read by Wordsworth is “Lucy Gray.” This poem is lyrical, and manifests the ideas presented to us in his thoughts from “Preface to Lyrical Ballad” in that it uses familiar and simple enough concepts to be understood for its surface meaning. It also dips into supernatural ideas, while it is still realistic enough for the reader to buy into. The poem is about a little girl who disappears in the woods. While sad, the poem’s tone is extremely lighthearted and almost upbeat. It doesn’t stress the actual death as much as it does the importance of Lucy Gray and the importance she holds in nature. As humans, we are able to empathize with emotions such as death and understand the meaning that it carries. Wordsworth intentionally sets this poem in a natural setting, which I propose goes hand in hand with the idea that death is also a natural thing. Instead of mourning death, he almost embraces it. The line, “sings a solitary song, that whistles in the wind,” celebrates her contribution to nature instead of being distraught that she has been removed from it. His upbeat tempo turns what could be an extremely upsetting topic into a normal part of life.