She Dwelt Among The Untrodden Ways

Fiction | Poem | Adult | Published in 1800

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Background

Poem Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Literary Devices

Themes

Lucy’s Isolation

In “She dwelt among the untrodden ways,” the speaker regrets that a woman with clear beauty and potential was unobserved by those around her. By highlighting the speaker’s own ability to suss out Lucy’s praiseworthiness and value, the speaker hopes to glorify the passed-over young woman and thus make amends.

Lucy’s isolation is repeatedly emphasized throughout the text, with seven allusions to her solitary existence made in the 12-line poem. She lives near paths that are “untrodden” (Line 1)—in a place where no one goes. It is clear she has few visitors and no intimates, as there are “none to praise [her]” (Line 3). “Very few” (Line 4) have courted her and Lucy remains unloved. Even the comparisons made between Lucy and natural objects show her singular nature: She is like “a violet” (Line 5), a flower that is tiny, easily missed, and hidden under a rock, and is equated to a solitary “star,” the “only one” (Line 7) lighting up the night.

The third stanza confirms this isolated existence: Lucy “lived unknown” and “few” (Line 9) knew of her existence. Now that she has died, her death goes unnoticed. Only the speaker feels the “difference” (Line 12) of her absence, a pang of grief indicated by the exclamation mark that ends the poem on a cry of anguish. The speaker clearly knew about this isolated beauty, yet only observed Lucy’s isolation during her lifetime without intervention. Now, by writing this tribute, the speaker joins themselves to Lucy forever, if only in imagination, thus ending her isolation.

The Assessment of Beauty

Beauty standards shift depending on culture and social norms. “She dwelt among the untrodden ways” asks readers: If a solitary aesthete declares a hidden woman beautiful, does this lone opinion align with or subvert these standards? Wordsworth’s speaker maintains that Lucy is beautiful because she is in a state of nature, unconnected to the outside world—part of her attractiveness is her ignorance of beauty standards and her isolation from social life.

The speaker insistently situates Lucy in a natural rather than social environment. Lucy is a “Maid” (Line 3), or a virginal young woman, who lives a completely isolated on the countryside. Because of her marginal existence, no one recognizes her for the beauty that she is—mostly because no one except the speaker can even see her, hidden under rocks like a violet or flowing underground like a spring.

Although we have little sense that Lucy is interested in the effect she might have on an outside observer, the speaker insists that she must be aesthetically judged by a keen eye for beauty regardless of her location. The “springs of Dove” (Line 2), the “violet” (Line 5), and the “star” (Line 7) all exist as natural phenomena, but their beauty can only be perceived when a human registers them. Similarly, Lucy’s beauty emerges because the speaker has the ability to scrutinize her. Unlike others, who give little thought to women like Lucy or notice when these women “ceas[e] to be” (Line 10), the speaker is a better appraiser of worth. Lucy’s death spurs grief—her nonexistence makes a large “difference” (Line 12) in the speaker’s world, which is now bereft of a source of natural beauty.

Lucy as the Nymph Ianthis

Jesuit priest René Rapin’s long poem Of Gardens (translated into English in 1706) recounts the pursuit of a nymph named Ianthis by the Greek god Apollo; eventually the goddess Diana protects Ianthis from rape by changing her into a violet. Wordsworth may have read this poem and used some of its imagery for inspiration in “She dwelt among the untrodden ways.”

Wordsworth’s speaker emphasizes that Lucy is a “Maid” (Line 3), or an unmarried virgin, comparing her to the flowering violet and describing her existence “[b]eside the springs of Dove” (Line 2). This echoes Rapin’s description of Ianthis hiding in the “shady Springs” (Mr. Gardiner, translator. Of Gardens. René, Rapin. Internet Archive, 1728. p.17) and his mythologizing of the violet, which “was once a charming Maid” (Of Gardens. p.16) pursued by Apollo. Moreover, Ianthis’s hiding correlates to Wordsworth’s description of the violet “half hidden from the eye” (Line 6).

The poem notes that there were “very few to love [Lucy]” (Line 4) except the speaker—a sense of ownership that resonates with Apollo’s thoughts in Rapin’s poem: “the more the Virgin blushed the more the God was fir’d” (Of Gardens. p.17). However, with Diana’s assistance, Ianthis is “changed to a Vi’let, with this Praise she meets, / Persisting chaste she keeps her former Sweets” (Of Gardens. p.17). Similarly, Lucy’s death is a transformation like Ianthis’s which releases her from the speaker’s pursuit. Lucy, who previously was not “prais[ed]” (Line 3) is now compared to “a violet” (Line 5) and lauded by the contrite speaker.

Related Titles

By William Wordsworth

Study Guide

A Complaint

She Dwelt Among The Untrodden Ways

Themes

Lucy’s Isolation

The Assessment of Beauty

Lucy as the Nymph Ianthis

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