Three Years She Grew in Sun and Shower
By William
Wordsworth
Three
years she grew"
The poem begins
with the personified Nature noticing Lucy
at three years old. Nature thinks she is the most beautiful thing on earth,
and promises to take her to make "A Lady of [her] own":
Three
years she grew in sun and shower,
Then
Nature said, "A lovelier flower
On
earth was never sown;
This
Child I to myself will take;
She
shall be mine, and I will make
A Lady
of my own.
Nature then
expounds on what it means to be Nature's lady for several stanzas. Nature
promises to make Lucy into a part of nature itself. She will be a part of the
rocks, the earth, the heaven, the glades, the mountain springs, the clouds,
the trees, and the storms. In addition, Lucy will fully enjoy nature and
understand it. It will be as if they are in constant communication:
Myself
will to my darling be
Both
law and impulse: and with me
The
Girl, in rock and plain,
In
earth and heaven, in glade and bower,
Shall
feel an overseeing power
To
kindle or restrain.
She
shall be sportive as the fawn
That
wild with glee across the lawn,
Or up
the mountain springs;
And
her's shall be the breathing balm,
And
her's the silence and the calm
Of
mute insensate things.
The
floating clouds their state shall lend
To
her; for her the willow bend;
Nor
shall she fail to see
Even
in the motions of the Storm
Grace
that shall mould the Maiden's form
By
silent sympathy.
The
stars of midnight shall be dear
To
her; and she shall lean her ear
In
many a secret place
Where
rivulets dance their wayward round,
And
beauty born of murmuring sound
Shall
pass into her face.
And
vital feelings of delight
Shall
rear her form to stately height,
Her
virgin bosom swell;
Such
thoughts to Lucy I will give
While
she and I together live
Here
in this happy dell.
In the last stanza
Nature declares that her work is done: she has fulfilled her promise to Lucy,
letting her grow into a mature woman (as promised in the sixth stanza). The speaker
declares, "How soon my Lucy's race was run!" When she dies, she
leaves the speaker a calm scene to enjoy along with the beautiful memory of
her:
Thus
Nature spoke--The work was done--
How
soon my Lucy's race was run!
She
died, and left to me
This
heath, this calm, and quiet scene;
The
memory of what has been,
And
never more will be.
Analysis:
"Three years she grew" is made up
of seven six-line stanzas that each have an AABCCB rhyme scheme. This poem is
one of a set usually called the "Lucy Poems." The identity of Lucy
has never been discovered.
Nature takes on an
interesting role in this poem--she is beautiful and giving, and yet
ultimately dictates the circumstances of Lucy's death. The poem becomes a
beautiful elegy written to a woman who has died and who Wordsworth admired
not only for her beauty, but also for her connection to nature, which
Wordsworth felt was the highest possible achievement.
Also worthy of note
is the fact that the speaker does not speak until the final stanza. For the
first six stanzas he simply describes the declarations and promises of
Nature. It is only in the end that the reader finally learns what happened to
Lucy (she died as soon as she reached maturity) and why the speaker is
writing the poem (out of grief).
|
The Lucy poems by
William Wordsworth
The Lucy poems
are a series of five poems composed by the English Romantic poet William
Wordsworth (1770–1850) between 1798 and 1801. In the series, Wordsworth sought
to write unaffected English verse infused with abstract ideals of beauty,
nature, love, longing and death.
Common traits in "Lucy
poems": In all of the"Lucy poems” Lucy is given the embodiment of
lady nature with all her spiritual powers and blessings. She is also depicted
heavenly and beyond earthly. Again her memory is a fountain of poet’s joy. In
the subjective world of Wordsworth, she is indeed the princess.
The "Lucy poems" consist of "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".
Identity of Lucy: Wordsworth did not reveal the inspiration for the character of Lucy, and over the years the topic has generated intense speculation among literary historians. Moorman suggests that Lucy may represent Wordsworth's romantic interest Mary Hutchinson, but wonders why she would be represented as one who died. It is possible that Wordsworth was thinking of Margaret Hutchinson, Mary's sister who had died. There is no evidence, however, that the poet loved any of the Hutchinson other than Mary. It is more likely that Margaret's death influenced but is not the foundation for Lucy. Some critics are with the opinion that the series was written for the poet's sister Dorothy.
The "Lucy poems" consist of "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".
Identity of Lucy: Wordsworth did not reveal the inspiration for the character of Lucy, and over the years the topic has generated intense speculation among literary historians. Moorman suggests that Lucy may represent Wordsworth's romantic interest Mary Hutchinson, but wonders why she would be represented as one who died. It is possible that Wordsworth was thinking of Margaret Hutchinson, Mary's sister who had died. There is no evidence, however, that the poet loved any of the Hutchinson other than Mary. It is more likely that Margaret's death influenced but is not the foundation for Lucy. Some critics are with the opinion that the series was written for the poet's sister Dorothy.
The point of view:
The "Lucy poems" are written from the point of view of a lover who
has long viewed the object of his affection from afar, and who is now affected
by her death. Lucy is Wordsworth's inspiration, and she is
presented as an ideal .
C.
Language Work
1.
Fill in the following blanks with the words given below.
Simile
|
Metaphor
|
personification
|
alliteration
|
hyperbole
|
1. An abstract idea
or inanimate thing is equated to a being which is alive ____________
2. Exaggeration of
things as much greater or smaller than they really are _____________
3. An expression of
likeness between difference objects or events ___________________
4. An expression
containing an implied comparison _________________
5. The repetition of
the letters or syllables or the same sound at the beginning of two or more
words in a line_____________
2.
Look at the following expressions.
Boys
and girls, day and night, knowledge and ignorance, thought and deed\
Pick
out such expressions from the poem.
3.
The word ‘shower’ (line 1) rhymes with ‘flower’ (line 2). Similarly the word
‘sown’ (line 3) rhymes with ‘own’ (line 6)—stanza 1.
List
all the rhyming words with their line numbers and stanza numbers as shown
above.
Discussion
Questions:
A.
Answer the following questions in one or two sentences each.
1. How is Nature
personified in the poem?
2. Explain how Nature
treats Lucy.
3. What kind of
liberty is given to Lucy?
4. How does Lucy move
in the lap of Nature?
5. In what way does
Lucy enjoy the nights?
B. Answer
the following questions in about 75 words each.
1. How will Lucy feel
the overseeing power of Nature?
2. To what is the
sportive nature of Lucy compared?
3. What kind of
beauty is reflected in Lucy’s face?
4. How does Nature
lament the untimely death of Lucy?
