In many of his numerous and celebrated works, Romantic poet William Wordsworth reveals his veneration of nature and his appreciation of imagination. One such poem is "Lucy Gray," the tale of a sweet and solitary child who never returns after venturing off into a storm. In this inventive poem, Wordsworth uses imagery, symbolism and figures of speech to present a hopeful conceptualization of her death; Lucy's timely escape from the corruptive human world to the revered natural world.
One device that Wordsworth uses to reveal and emphasize his poem's meaning is imagery. Wordsworth's imagery creates a division between the natural world and the human world. The former is presented as innocent and simple, while the latter is seen as miserable and corruptive, a common Romantic sentiment. Lines such as "You yet may spy the fawn at play, / The Hare upon the green," generate a vivid scene in the readers' minds, one in which nature serves as a place of serenity (Wordsworth 9-10). Throughout the poem, it is easy to see Wordsworth's reverence of nature, as he consistently describes the scene in great detail. In comparison, a vivid description of the human world…show more content… He uses imagery to highlight the superiority of the natural world when compared with human world. Through symbolism, Wordsworth reveals that Lucy's demise is not simply a tragic end, but a transition from one world to another. Wordsworth uses a metaphor and a simile to equate Lucy with the natural world and dissociate her from the human world, and a euphemism to reveal the divinity and eternity of nature. Thus, Lucy's death is not quite as tragic as it first seems, but instead a timely escape to a better place. Perhaps, throughout the poem, Wordsworth even compel us not to pity Lucy, but to pity those who must continue to dwell in this corruptive human
