Lucy Gray

William Wordsworth was a great English romantic poet who collaborated with his friend Samuel Taylor Coleridge on the famous lyrical ballads. It was published in lyrical ballads in 1799. Please do not confuse ‘ Lucy’ poems of Wordsworth with ‘ Lucy Gray ‘ poems. 

Lucy Gray's poem talks about a young girl who got lost on a stormy night. The poem itself is very heart-touching as we are exposed to the vulnerability of the young child. Many critics have said that lucy could be his sister Dorothy while some considered Lucy to be an imaginative character. Wordsworth never really talked about the origin of Lucy's character in his poems. While many critics who believed Lucy to be Dorothy linked its parallel with the character. As Wordsworth has been separated from his sister in childhood. Though later he found Dorothy in his life the poem doesn’t meet with a happy ending.

The themes of the poem revolved around the death of Lucy Gray. The sentences never really said that she died but it was indicated that Lucy did die by losing her way in the stormy night. There is also a parallel that the Wordsworth ‘ Lucy ‘ poems have Lucy dying as well.

Another theme is nature. Wordsworth is a romantic poet who focused on writing connecting back to nature as he didn’t like industrialization. He also shows how Lucy is a part of nature and as she dies she goes back to become one with nature. Escapism could also be seen as Wordsworth switches away from realism to the imaginative world that he creates. 

Whether this poem is built on an imaginative character or is based on a real person; this debate can go on forever but we get to witness a young girl being brave enough to go out on a stormy night and nature seems to take her in. Nature was a mother who took pity on her for being so brave and losing her way home. It is like she sets her free from her pain as she becomes one with her.