Man vs. Nature

Wordsworth’s poem, “Lucy Gray,” to me, caught the essence of not only the harsh battle between humankind and nature, but how human interference with nature can backfire and lead to tragedy. Lucy’s father sends her with a lantern to show a path to town for her mother, but because of the harsh winter blizzard, she never makes it. She becomes lost in her trek, and when her parents see that her footsteps have stopped on a bridge, they know that their child has died during the cold night.

                This poem, by showing both Lucy and her parents’ struggle and helplessness in the storm and darkness, presents that nature has a sort of authority over man. Lucy goes out on a mission – fully prepared by leaving early enough and carrying a lantern with her – to find a path but nature, in a sense, wins over and prevents her from completing her task. In the end, it is man’s creation that ultimately leads to Lucy’s demise. She comes to a bridge (manmade) and there her footprints, which her family has been following, cease. Lucy finds this bridge after she has “wandered up and down” though the snowy hills, believing that this will help her in her journey. Maybe if she had come to the river below instead, she could’ve have turned around and gone back home. Man’s interference in nature is what causes Lucy’s death.