19 pages 38 minutes read

William Wordsworth

She Dwelt Among The Untrodden Ways

Fiction | Poem | Adult | Published in 1800

A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.

Further Reading & Resources

Related Poems

Lucy Gray” by William Wordsworth (1800)

“Lucy Gray” appeared in the 1800 edition of The Lyrical Ballads. Although not technically one of the Lucy poems, it is often mentioned when discussing the set because this ballad also explores loss, here through the disappearance of a child in a surprise snowstorm. Like the Lucy of “She dwelt among untrodden ways,” Lucy Gray is described as “sweet” (Line 59) and “solitary” (Line 4) with “no mate, no comrade” (Line 5). When her parents find her footprints in the snow, but never discover her body, Lucy Gray becomes the stuff of legend, her spirit wandering “upon the lonesome wild” (Line 60). This Lucy, too, takes on an afterlife that is mysterious and a catalyst for the speaker’s imagination.

Strange Fits of Passion Have I Known” by William Wordsworth (1800)

This ballad precedes “She dwelt among the untrodden ways” in the second edition of Lyrical Ballads (1800). Foreshadowing Lucy’s death, it depicts the speaker’s passion turning to fear when riding toward Lucy’s cottage. In the past, “she I loved looked every day / Fresh as a rose in June” (Lines 5-6), and now a “strange fits of passion” (Line 1) drives the speaker to seek Lucy.

Related Titles

By William Wordsworth

Study Guide
logo

A Complaint

William Wordsworth

A Complaint

William Wordsworth

Plot Summary
logo

A Slumber Did My Spirit Seal

William Wordsworth

A Slumber Did My Spirit Seal

William Wordsworth

Study Guide
logo

Composed upon Westminster Bridge, September 3, 1802

William Wordsworth

Composed upon Westminster Bridge, September 3, 1802

William Wordsworth

Study Guide
logo

Daffodils

William Wordsworth

Daffodils

William Wordsworth

Study Guide
logo

I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud

William Wordsworth

I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud

William Wordsworth

Study Guide
logo

Tintern Abbey

William Wordsworth

Lines Composed a Few Miles above Tintern Abbey ...

William Wordsworth

Study Guide
logo

London, 1802

William Wordsworth

London, 1802

William Wordsworth

Plot Summary
logo

Lyrical Ballads

William Wordsworth

Lyrical Ballads

William Wordsworth

Study Guide
logo

My Heart Leaps Up

William Wordsworth

My Heart Leaps Up

William Wordsworth

Study Guide
logo

Ode: Intimations of Immortality from Recollections of Early Childhood

William Wordsworth

Ode: Intimations of Immortality from Recollections of Early Childhood

William Wordsworth

Study Guide
logo

Preface to Lyrical Ballads

William Wordsworth

Preface to Lyrical Ballads

William Wordsworth

Study Guide
logo

She Was a Phantom of Delight

William Wordsworth

She Was a Phantom of Delight

William Wordsworth

Plot Summary
logo

The Prelude

William Wordsworth

The Prelude

William Wordsworth

Study Guide
logo

The Solitary Reaper

William Wordsworth

The Solitary Reaper

William Wordsworth

Study Guide
logo

The World Is Too Much with Us

William Wordsworth

The World Is Too Much with Us

William Wordsworth

Study Guide
logo

To the Skylark

William Wordsworth

To the Skylark

William Wordsworth

Plot Summary
logo

We Are Seven

William Wordsworth

We Are Seven

William Wordsworth