Uy

Uy

  • Submitted By: hide
  • Date Submitted: 01/02/2009 3:32 AM
  • Category: English
  • Words: 515
  • Page: 3
  • Views: 423

She Dwelt Among the Untrodden Ways
In the poem “She Dwelt Among the Untrodden Ways”, the speaker seems to be in love with a woman who has gone unnoticed by all others, but him. Unfortunately, she dies by the end of the poem. The speaker talks of a lady, Lucy, that he is madly in love with and in the end marries another. The speaker talks of where his lady ‘dwelt’, her beauty, and her ‘death’.
Lucy, the speaker’s love, is said to dwell among the ‘untrodden ways’, seemingly, this means she either lives down, or travels down, the road less traversed. Untrodden ways could also refer to unknown areas of her life, such as whether she is, or was married, or if she is being courted. “She lived unknown…” this line gives the reader the idea that not one soul knew where she lived, except for the speaker. However, we discover later that this means the she is with another man. “She dwelt among the untrodden ways” Lucy’s life was a mystery, and the speaker does not discover that she is being courted by another until the second stanza. “A violet hidden by a mossy stone” , the violet refers to Lucy. The speaker does so for the reason that he believes her to be beautiful. This ‘other man’ is referred to as the mossy stone, moss tends to have a slimy feeling to it, this could mean that the speaker looks upon this man as ‘slime’? The speaker looks upon this ‘other man’ as slime because he has the woman he, the speaker, wants.
The speaker’s description of his ‘love’ is quite charming. He describes her as “A violet by a mossy stone”, showing that this woman is, in his eyes, beautiful. The line, “Half hidden from the eye!” shows that she could still be seen, if one looked. “Fair as a star, when only one/is shining in the sky.” the speaker obviously looks upon Lucy as if she were the most beautiful person in the world, and she is the only one he sees. Now to only understand whether he did anything about his affections for her, or not is another story. He tells us of her...