Open Prompt Response, September 18

1984. Select a line or so of poetry, or a moment or scene in a novel, epic poem, or play that you find especially memorable. Write an essay in which you identify the line or the passage, explain its relationship to the work in which it is found, and analyze the reasons for its effectiveness.

            “A violet by a mossy stone/ half hidden from the eye!/ Fair as a star, when only one/ is shining in the sky.” This is a quote from the scene just after Lucy's death in Wordsworth’s poem entitled “Lucy”, a beautiful and moving poem, full of brilliant imagery.  The words he uses to paint this picture are sure to stick in your mind, and dance there for a while.

            "Lucy" is the story of two people in love, and of how distance strengthens their love.  Unfortunately, the man in the relationship eventually comes back from his travels to find his love dead. The second verse of the poem speaks of how Lucy didn't have a large number of suitors, and her hand had not been sought by many.  It also tells of the pain the man feels, for though she wasn't a widely sought after maiden, she was his world.

            The above quoted line is one that has always stuck in my head from this poem, because of Wordsworth's effective imagery.  "A violet by a mossy stone" conjures the image of one bright spot of color in an otherwise bland world, which is how the narrator sees Lucy, she is the bright spot in his world.  The same line also manages to conjure a much darker image, of an older gravestone slightly off the beaten path, a place where none but a heartbroken lover would go.

            The lines, "Fair as a star, when only one/ is shining in the sky." are a hopeful image, for stars in our culture have a connotation of wishes, freedom, and direction. Here in our culture, when you see a shooting star the first thing someone will say is "Make a wish!", there's even a song entitled "When You Wish Upon a Star".  The slaves used stars to get to freedom, they were told to follow them and be free.  Sailors have been using stars to navigate for centuries.  So when we read these lines we don't just get the idea that she's a pretty girl, which is the more obvious meaning of "fair as a star", we see that to the narrator she was his wish come true, his freedom, and the sole being that directed him to safety.

            This verse, commonly referred to as "She Dwelt Among the Untrodden Ways", is often separated from the rest of the poem.  But this verse is the turning point of the poem, and as such is a very necessary aspect of the whole picture.  Many anthologies and literature text books will only have this verse in them.  This is because the reader is struck by imagery in this section.  If Wordsworth had said "a flower by a rock/ partially hidden from view" no one would care, no one would read this verse on its own, if at all.  If Wordsworth hadn't used such beautiful imagery in this verse, the entire poem would have fallen apart.  That is why imagery is so important to poems, for it isn't just this poem that would fall apart without it.