WILLIAM WORDSWORTH WRITES:

1. WILLIAM WORDSWORTH WRITES: POETRY IS A SPONTANEOUS OVERFLOW OF EMOTIONS RECOLLECTED IN TRANQUILITY.

2. CHRONOLOGY • WILLIAM WORDSWORTH IS KNOWN AS: • ‘THE POET OF NATURE’ • BIRTH PLACE: COCKERMOUTH(LAKE DISTRICT) • BORN ON: 7TH APRIL,1770 • LYRICALL BALLADS PUBLISHED IN 1798. • LUCY GRAY WRITTEN IN 1797. • LUCY GRAY INCLUDED IN LYRICALL BALLADS PUBLISHED IN 1800(2ND EDITION) DIED ON 23RD APRIL,1850.

3. WORDSWORTH:A ROMANTIC • WORDSWORTH,LIKE ALL OTHER ROMANTICS, CONSIDERED NATURE: ‘A SOURCE OF INSPIRATION’. • NATURE HAD A PROFOUND INFLUENCE ON HIM AS A HEALING POWER. • NATURE PROVIDED HIM SPIRITUAL RELAXATION AWAY FROM THE MUNDANE WORLDLY AFFAIRS.

4. WORDSWORTHIAN THEME • ONE OF THE IMPORTANT FEATURE OF HIS POETRY IS THE SELECTION OF CHARACTERS FROM THE HUMBLE RUSTIC LIFE IN CLOSE PROXIMITY WITH NATURE BECAUSE THEY CAN DEPICT HUMAN EMOTIONS UNADULTERATED AND UNTAMPERED AS NATURE ITSELF IS UNPOLLUTED AND INNOCENT.

5. WORDSWORTHIAN LANGUAGE • WORDSWORTH PREACHES THE USE OF SIMPLE LANGUAGE IN POETRY BUT IT DOESN’T MEAN THAT HIS POETRY IS MUNDANE,PEDESTRIAN OR PROSAIC.HE ADDS COLOUR IN HIS POETRY AND LANGUAGE WITH THE BRUSH OF IMAGINATION.ALL HIS POETRY IS A TRUE PICTURE OF SIMPLE LANGUAGE WRAPPED IN THE COVER OF IMAGINATION.

6. LUCY GRAY-----A BALLAD • BALLAD IS A POEM OR SONG WHICH NARRATES A STORY IN SIMPLE LANGUAGE. • LUCY GRAY IS A NORTHERN BALLAD WHICH ENDS TRAGIC.

7. THE STORY • LUCY GRAY IS A STORY OF A SMALL INNOCENT CHILD WHO WAS HEADING TO THE TOWN TO BRING HER MOTHER BACK BEFORE THE NIGHT PREVAILS AS A SNOWSTORM WAS PREDICTED AT NIGHT.

8. MOOD OF THE POEM • THE MOOD OF THE POEM IS SAD AND MELANCHOLIC IN THE BEGINNING AND THE POET KEEPS IT TILL THE LAST VERY DEXTEROUSLY WHERE THIS GLOOMINESS CHANGES INTO A TRAGEDY.

9. TREATMENT • IN THE STARTING STANZAS,THE POET VERY SKILLFULLY DESCRIBES THE SPEAKER,THE PERSON BEING ADDRESSED,THE SITUATION,THE THINKING OF THE CHARACTERS,THEIR ACTION AND RESPONSE TO THE SITUATION.

10. TREATMENT(IMAGERY) • STANZA NO:7 DEPICTS THE CAREFREE NATURE OF LUCY AND HER OBLIVIOUS ATTITUDE TO THE HARSH AND BITTER LIFE. • USE OF PHRASES ‘WANTON STROKE’, ‘POWDRY SNOW’ ,AND ‘RISES UP LIKE SMOKE’ SHOWS THE STRONG AND RICH IMAGINATION OF THE POET AND HIS ART TO STRENGTHEN THE IMAGINATION POWER OF THE READER.

11. TREATMENT • THE SITUATION,HOWEVER, BECOMES HEART RENDING WHEN LUCY’S PARENTS SEARCH FOR HER EVERYWHERE IN THE PITCH DARKNESS AND AT THE END THEY ARE AT SEA. • HERE THE POET PROVIDES US A CHANCE TO SHARPEN OUR MEMORIES AND RESEMBLE THIS SITUATION WITH THE SITUATION IN WILLIAM BLAKE’S POEM, “THE LITTLE GIRL FOUND” WHEN LYCA’S PARENTS ALSO PASS THROUGH THE SAME TRAGEDY.

12. USE OF LITERARY TERMS • LAST STANZA: USE OF ALLITERATION • SHE SINGS A SOLITARY SONG AND • WHISTLES IN THE WIND • INTRODUCTION TO ASSONANCE

13. MESSAGE • THE POET PUTS US INTO A SOMBRE MOOD AND COMPELS US TO THINK ABOUT MAN AND HIS DESTINY UPON THE EARTH.THE MOOR AND THE SNOW COVERED MOUNTAINS CAN BE COMPARED TO THE MAGNITUDE OF THE UNIVERSE WHEREAS CAREFREE LUCY GRAY ALL ALONE ON THE MOOR,FINDING HER WAY AND GUIDANCE PASSING THROUGH VARIOUS OBSTACLES,SYMBOLISES FRIVOLOUS MAN STRUGGLING TO FIND HIS DESTINATION.AT THE END, NATURE SHELTERS HIM AND HE BECOMES ITS PART. WHAT KEEPS HIM ALIVE ; IS HIS MEMORIES. • LUCY WAS THE PART OF NATURE BUT STILL LIVING THROUGH HER SONG.

14. THANKYOU