Upon first reading
Song
[
She dwelt among th’untrodden ways],
it seems like Wordsworth is simply describing a woman (Lucy) he sees and
fancies, but after reading it a few times, my initial thought changed. I think
Wordsworth is describing Lucy to some extent, but at the same time, I can’t
help but think that he’s also describing some part of himself; he’s projecting the
loneliness within himself - to an extent - onto this woman. Aside from his projection
of his suspected loneliness, Wordsworth seems to also explain how he sees this
woman when no one else does or can, as described in the line:
A violet by a mossy stone
Half-hidden from the Eye!
- Fair, as a star when only one
Is shining in the sky.
I can't tell how he feels about possibly being the only one that notices this woman. Does he want others to see her too? Yet at the same time, does that also mean that he wants others to see the loneliness he has, if he really is projecting any sort of emotion onto this woman.
I think what Wordsworth is initially saying here is that yes, the woman is beautiful, but it a a beauty that one has to look for to truly see and appreciate. I agree that there is some sense of loneliness pervading from these lines: "fair, as a star when only one" is a great example of this. She is the only star in the sky and though this makes her brilliance more evident, it gives a sense of isolation and misplacement. "A violet by a mossy stone" would be indeed quite easy to see if you think about the colors. The eye is drawn to the purple amongst the green, but there is still a sense that the picture isn't completely revealed, hence the next like "Half-hidden from the Eye!" This line stands out the most to me because of the exclamation point as well as the the capitalized "E" in Eye. To me this implies that the eye is all seeing, and the fact that there is something that it cannot see must mean that it is truly something out of the ordinary.
ReplyDelete