The term “Lucy Poems“ includes five poems written by the romantic poet William Wordsworth which, traditionally, are grouped in literary studies because they seemingly
create an “extraordinary unity”. Yet the poet did not intend
them to be sequenced. As a consequence, there is uncertainty about which and how many poems could be considered as a “Lucy Poem” or not. One has found a conventional solution or compromise declaring Wordsworth’s “Strange fits of
Passion have I known”, “She dwelt among the untrodden ways”, “I travelled among unknown men”, “Three years she grew in sun and shower” and “A slumber did my spirit seal” to be the
“Lucy Poems”. I will base my investigations on this grouping.
During the poet’s time in Goslar, the German harvest and winter put Wordsworth in a pensive mood and “he turned […] to thoughts of death, represented in his poetry by an elegiac strain
far stronger than any of the varieties of sentimental morality it replaced”. The “Lucy Poems” arose out of this gloomy mood and can be described as “poems of homesickness”. Four of these poems, namely “Strange fits”, “She dwelt”, “A slumber” and “Three years” were published in the second volume of the Lyrical Ballads in 1800. The fifth one, “I travelled” was published later.
Only in the later edition of the Lyrical Ballads published of 1815, Wordsworth rearranged all five poems as he divided his poetry into “Poems Founded on the Affections” and “Poems of
the Imagination”. “Strange fits”, “She dwelt” and “I travelled” belong to the first group whilst “Three years” and “A slumber” were integrated into the latter.
As the “Lucy Poems” are seen as a “sober meditation on death or a subject related to death” this link between the poems will be the subject of investigation in my seminar paper. Roughly summarizing the content of the poems, the speaker after somehow intuiting the passing away of his beloved Lucy meditates on her life and death. Since the representation of death in the “Lucy Poems” is linked to its counterpart, the representation of life, it is inevitable to naturally take a look at Lucy as a living creature of nature first.
Examining the representation of Lucy’s passing and its emotional impact on the speaker in the five poems I will then illustrate the gradual changing within the motif of death.[...]
Table of Contents
1. Introduction
2. About the motif of the “Lucy Poems”
2.1. Who is/was Lucy?
2.1.1. Lucy – a real person or a symbol?
2.1.2. Lucy – a beloved person and a child of nature
2.2. Lucy’s death and the links to nature
2.3. The meditation on Lucy’s death compared to the process of grief
3. Conclusion
4. Works Cited
Objectives and Research Focus
This paper examines the "Lucy Poems" by William Wordsworth, specifically focusing on the motif of death and its sequential representation across the five poems. The primary research goal is to demonstrate how the speaker’s changing perspective on Lucy's death aligns with the psychological stages of the human grief process, ultimately revealing a cohesive unity within the poems that transcends their initial thematic diversity.
- Analysis of Lucy as both a symbolic figure and a representation of nature.
- Examination of the speaker's emotional progression from denial to acceptance.
- Investigation of the relationship between human mortality and the cyclic nature of the universe.
- Comparison of literary depictions of death with Verena Kast's psychological stages of grieving.
- Evaluation of the "Lucy Poems" as a unified sequence regarding their thematic development.
Excerpt from the Book
2.1.1. Lucy – a real person or a symbol?
There are many speculations about what or who Wordsworth’s Lucy could be and whether she might even represent a real person whom the poet had a relation to. Some critics believe that she represents Mary Hutchinson, who later became the poet’s wife (cf. Woodring, p. 44). But Margoliouth states that “Mary was beloved not only for herself but as part of England, not only for herself but as inheriting also Wordsworth’s unfulfilled love for her dead sister” (c. p. 56). He suggests another point of view, namely that Lucy might just be Mary’s sister, Margaret, whose sudden death at a young age moved Wordsworth to write the poems known as “Lucy Poems” (cf. Margoliouth, pp. 52-58). Actually, if this were true, it would give evidence that these five poems more than likely represent the process of grief after the loss of a beloved person, in particular, the poet’s own emotional state expressed in his poetry.
Furthermore, sometimes even Dorothy, Wordsworth’s sister, is assumed to be “the chief inspirer of these poems” (c. Durrant, p. 137). Of course, there “may have been an actual Lucy otherwise unknown to us. Or she may have been […] ‘nobody at all’” (c. Woodring, p. 44). Yet, “[t]his must all remain surmise, as no definitive evidence exists” (c. Bloom and Trilling, p. 152). But even if Lucy did not represent a person that existed in reality, this would not make these works of poetry empty of sense. On the contrary, she as the main figure of the poems embodies ideas, concepts or feelings of the poet which are not limited to personal experiences even though these might have served as foundations. She could therefore be seen as a symbol whether based on a real person of Wordsworth’s environment or not. This symbolic meaning will be analysed in the course of my investigations.
Summary of Chapters
1. Introduction: This chapter defines the scope of the study by grouping the five poems traditionally known as the "Lucy Poems" and establishing the intent to link them through a shared meditation on death and the process of grief.
2. About the motif of the “Lucy Poems”: This section explores the identity of Lucy, the connection between her death and natural imagery, and concludes by comparing the speaker's emotional trajectory to formal psychological models of grieving.
3. Conclusion: The concluding chapter synthesizes the previous findings, confirming that the "Lucy Poems" form a coherent sequence that reflects the stages of human grief and the romantic concept of nature.
4. Works Cited: This section provides a comprehensive list of all primary and secondary sources used to support the literary and psychological analysis of the poems.
Keywords
William Wordsworth, Lucy Poems, Romanticism, death motif, grief process, nature, mourning, literary analysis, symbolic figure, psychology, Verena Kast, lyrical ballads, human mortality, emotional progression, cosmic cycles.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the core subject of this academic paper?
The paper explores the motif of death within William Wordsworth’s "Lucy Poems," arguing that these five poems are not just random works, but a sequence that reflects the stages of the grieving process.
Which poems are analyzed in this research?
The study includes "Strange fits of Passion have I known," "She dwelt among the untrodden ways," "I travelled among unknown men," "Three years she grew in sun and shower," and "A slumber did my spirit seal."
What is the primary objective of the author?
The objective is to prove that the "Lucy Poems" create an extraordinary unity by illustrating a gradual transition in the speaker's representation of death, which mirrors the stages of human grief.
Which methodological approach is applied?
The author combines literary analysis of Romantic poetry with psychological frameworks, specifically utilizing Verena Kast’s work on the stages of the grieving process to interpret the speaker's emotional state.
What topics are covered in the main section?
The main section investigates the identity of Lucy, the connection between her death and natural imagery, and how the poems reflect different stages of mourning, from denial to final acceptance.
What are the characterizing keywords of the text?
Key terms include Wordsworth, Lucy Poems, Romanticism, grief process, death motif, nature, mourning, and symbolic interpretation.
How does the author define Lucy's relationship with nature?
The author argues that Lucy is both a beloved individual and a representative part of nature, with her existence and death being deeply intertwined with natural laws and the cosmic cycle.
Does the author conclude that the speaker successfully moves through the grief process?
Yes, the conclusion suggests that by the final poems, the speaker reaches a higher insight into the nature of things, allowing for the acceptance of death as part of the natural order without losing the memory of the deceased.
- Quote paper
- Johanna Mett (Author), 2015, The Motif of Death in the “Lucy Poems”. Its Representation and Relation to the Stages of Grief, Munich, GRIN Verlag, https://www.grin.com/document/298341
