Oft I had heard of Lucy Gray,
And when I cross'd the Wild,
I chanc'd to see at break of day
The solitary Child.
No Mate, no comrade Lucy knew;
She dwelt on a wild Moor,
The sweetest Thing that ever grew
Beside a human door!
You yet may spy the Fawn at play,
The Hare upon the Green;
But the sweet face of Lucy Gray
Will never more be seen.
"To-night will be a stormy night,
You to the Town must go,
And take a lantern, Child, to light
Your Mother thro' the snow."
"That, Father! will I gladly do;
'Tis scarcely afternoon—
The Minster-clock has just struck two,
And yonder is the Moon."
At this the Father rais'd his hook
And snapp'd a faggot-band;
He plied his work, and Lucy took
The lantern in her hand.
Not blither is the mountain roe,
With many a wanton stroke
Her feet disperse, the powd'ry snow
That rises up like smoke.
The storm came on before its time,
She wander'd up and down,
And many a hill did Lucy climb
But never reach'd the Town.
The wretched Parents all that night
Went shouting far and wide;
But there was neither sound nor sight
To serve them for a guide.
At day-break on a hill they stood
That overlook'd the Moor;
And thence they saw the Bridge of Wood
A furlong from their door.
And now they homeward turn'd, and cry'd
"In Heaven we all shall meet!"
When in the snow the Mother spied
The print of Lucy's feet.
Then downward from the steep hill's edge
They track'd the footmarks small;
And through the broken hawthorn-hedge,
And by the long stone-wall;
And then an open field they cross'd,
The marks were still the same;
They track'd them on, nor ever lost,
And to the Bridge they came.
They follow'd from the snowy bank
The footmarks, one by one,
Into the middle of the plank,
And further there were none.
Yet some maintain that to this day
She is a living Child,
That you may see sweet Lucy Gray
Upon the lonesome Wild.
O'er rough and smooth she trips along,
And never looks behind;
And sings a solitary song
That whistles in the wind.
Notes
Sometimes titled ' Solitude ',
Lucy Gray is based on a true event, but Wordsworth strayed from the true account in that in his poem her body was never. found
He wrote
Written at Goslar in Germany. It was founded on a circumstance told me by my Sister, of a little girl who, not far from Halifax in Yorkshire, was bewildered in a snow-storm. Her footsteps were traced by her parents to the middle of the lock of a canal, and no other vestige of her, backward or forward, could be traced. The body however was found in the canal. The way in which the incident was treated and the spiritualising of the character might furnish hints for contrasting the imaginative influences which I have endeavoured to throw over common life with Crabbe's matter of fact style of treating subjects of the same kind. This is not spoken to his disparagement, far from it, but to direct the attention of thoughtful readers, into whose hands these notes may fall, to a comparison that may both enlarge the circle of their sensibilities, and tend to produce in them a catholic judgment.
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explanations
From guest Waheed (contact)
No doubt, the poem in question is a wonderful piece of work. It will be nice if critics of Wordsworth provide clear explanations of the stanzas "Not blither....like smoke." and "At this the Father...in her hand." -
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This poem is based on a true accidents, A little girl namely Lucy Gray lost her life while obying the order of her father to bring her mother back from the town, but she can't resist the strom which come before its time and take lucy with him, Wordsworth give it a form of poem in a very nice way, the poem start in a dramatical way like a story starts in Drama, and then come the climax which is really heart touching, Wordsworth make it very easy for every one he make it very simple so that a new commer like me can easily understand it, anyhow its really fantastic and superb!
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So Sad
So Sad! Farewell Lucy! -
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Lucy's body
From guest Samantha (contact)
The body was found. This poem was based on an incident that happened not too far from Halifax (in Yorkshire), and her parents traced her footsteps to the middle of the lock of a canal, and the body was found in the canal. -
William Wordsworth
From guest Laura Elizabeth Wilson (contact)
What year did wordsworth write Lucy Gray? -
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sweet as Lucy Gray
'The sweetest Thing that ever grew
Beside a human door!'
wordsworth has shown his asthatic sense in this poem where he is describing the simple beauty of the little girl.He seems to be a great believer of the fact that 'Innocence is beauty abd Beauty is innocence"
he is morning the absence of the innocent beauty as she was her daughter or some one very close to him.
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From guest njomza (contact)
worthword is a great author and really it was amazing to read his poems and all his novels. -
Sad, haunting, inspiring me to look about
How can I or you look to events around us to for material to write about? Might someone be now composing a poem about the tragedy of the Playboy model who died in South Florida? -
Old memory
From guest Satvir Singh (contact)
I love this poem because i Read this in my class 8 or 9.whenever i Thinkof my school age i read this poem to go deep in the memories of my school days and my first love Ruckoo. -
Beauty
Lucy was his daughter. Who died in a very young age. He had great love for his daughter and believed nature itself was her mother. Nature gave her to trod on this earth and took her back, body and soul. This can be seen in his "Education of Nature". Lucy is a beauty any one would love. He threads this delicate being into a marvellous natural scene by such perfect rhyme. I love Wordsworth. A classic greatness -
Very moving
I loved it, I reckon that if you believe you could hear Lucy singing, whether it's fact or fiction really doesn't matter, it's a beautiful read. -
it was a great poem i love it. I think the reson why i love it so much is bcause my name is lucy gray
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INTRODUCTION:
Lucy gray is a very beautiful n meaningful poem,close to the Nature.the poem is about a sweet little girl Lucy,she became part of Nature.(according to the poet )she is still alive,and one can hear her sweet solitary songs which whistles in the wind
Lucy is very cute child but she has no partner to play,she has no fellow no comrade that can give company to her,she is alone.but still she was happy n she play with her self n nature,one day when the stormy night was expected,lucy's mother went to the town for shopping,whn she didnt came back to home,lucy's father asked lucy to go to the town n bring her mother back to the home.luy obeyed her father's advice n she went off to the town also having lantern with herself,unfortunately the unexpected storm came n she didnt rached to the town,after sometime her mother came back to the home,thn they came to know that lucy lost her way so they started searching for her but could not find her,the next day a furlong faraway from their house lucy's mother saw the footprints of lucy on the bridge,the footprints disappears on steep edge of hill.her mother started crying n saying that they will meet in heaven,though lucy was no more but her sweet solitary song still whistles in the air.
luy has become a part of nature n nature lovers can feel her presence n can hear her sweet voice -
Hey i learnt this poem as part of our academic curriculum in high school when i was with Warangal Public School, Warangal, AP, INDIA. It was taught by my English teacher Ms. Delphine Lever by the time we reached the last line of the poem all of us had tears in our eyes and that experience of that day still remains with me. I should actually thank my teacher Ms. Delphine Lever for instilling that love for poetry in us. Thank you Ms Delphine Lever where ever you are
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Lucy, as in Wordsworth's "Lucy poems" is believed to be based upon Peggy Hutchinson and his own sister.
The tale of Lucy Gray is based upon a true tale. Lucy Gray was a young child who did wander out onto the moor, lost in bad weather. Where the real tale and the one portraid by Wordsworth differ is that, Wordsworth claims some continue to hear her voice even though she was never found. In the real tale behind the poem, the dead body of Lucy Gray was found.
Andrew -
From reading different people's interpretation, I develop the interpretation that perhaps Wordsworth believed one could find innocence and youth from being that singular person, walking on the moors, and listening to her song, 'That whistles in the wind'?
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Hassan - Oldpoetry is a Poetry site, we don't support 'games' of any description, there are plenty of other places for that. We endeavour to make our site a place where one can learn, be educated and enjoy the classical poetry available to all of us.
Questions: we do have a bulletin board where questions may be asked and they will be answered to the best of our ability.
Thank You for your interest in Oldpoetry.
Vonnie
Oldpoetry Team -
i love this website
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your website has no games you should also make a website were we can ask questions
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being a literature teacher i realy love teaching lucy poems and the sentiments of wordsworth, as a great romantic poet he was
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i dont think it was Dorothy who Lucy was based on, i found more information about lucy gray - it was in the back of a wordsworth poetry book. it says "it was founded on a circumstance told me by my sister of a little girl who, not far from Halifax in Yorkshire, was bewildered in a snowstorm. Her footsteps were traced by her parents to the middle of the lock of a canal..."
the way i see it Wordsworth has immortalised this girl in his poem, and now she is doomed to wander "upon the lonesome wild" forever. *shrugs* but thats just what i think
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Lucy was based on an actual person: Wordsworth's own sister, Dorothy. It is implied that they had a relationship [other than being brother and sister]. I assume that in this poem, he actually says "Lucy" so I don't think it counts as a Lucy poem.
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is it really based on a true event? if so can anyone send me some information about it, i'm doing an assignment on the poem!
thanks
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In regards to style, Wordsworth mastery of telling a tale and still keeping the flare of poetic style, is markedly shown in this 'Lucy Gray'. Many attempt the narrative /rhyme approach, but end up with straight verse and lots of words spent on detail instead of tight rhyme and well chosen metaphors. This was my first read of this poem and I too loved it! Darmok
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In an English class, we discussed William Wordsworth's Lucy poems, but this poem isn't one of them. I think there could be a strong case for it being included since no one knows who Lucy really is. Lucy Gray would represent an ideal person of great wisdom to Wordsworth on account of her young age and innocence and her separation for society; her ways would be more innate than learned from others. Some of the ideas we discussed in class as to who Lucy was included a lover, a friend, and an imaginary person. I think Lucy represents his ideal woman, as if Lucy Gray's perfection lingered in his imagination and he saw her as a woman. Of course, all the articles I could find online claim that the discrepency of Lucy's age in Lucy Gray and the other Lucy poems proves that Lucy Gray cannot be the same Lucy. I think it's too much of a coincidence based on when the poems were written and the fact that Lucy is the main character of these poems.
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I loved this poem and Wordsworth seemed to have a class of touch, to any work he accomplishes. Sucha touching story..
Wordsworth believes, i guess, that lucy dwells, among the hills and vales..
And i would defenitely love to hear more.. do tell me pelase.. u had said, it is based on a true event, in that case, who was lucy ?
Note : Iam an ardent fan of Wordsworth and love to hear more about him.
Why does, Wordsworth uses the name lucy so many times, in many of his collections ? -
sad but wonderful poem. Its almost a shame that we have to be inspired but events that are so sad, but then again... if sad things didnt happen we wouldnt have poets. Thanks for sharing.
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This is the first time I've read this story and I enjoyed it very much. Sad but true, I think some of the best reading comes from true stories that develop into legends. And it takes a talented writer to relate the storys in the way that they do. Still, they all make for great reading.
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I love this poem by Wordsworth, sad that the tale is, especially as it was based on a real event, although Wordsworth gave it a more romantic ending and possibly created a ledgend at the same time.
I wonder how many have believed they heard Lucy's solitary song?
Andrew
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