Three Years She Grew in Sun and Shower by William Wordsworth poem summary, British Literature - II, B.A English Literature, 1st Year 2nd Semester

  BA English Literature

 [1^st Year, 2^nd Semester]

Core Paper V: BRITISH LITERATURE

UNIT 1: Poetry

"Three Years She Grew in Sun and Shower”

by William Wordsworth

Poem line by line explanation:

Stanza One

Three years she grew in sun and shower,

Then nature said, “a lovelier flower

on earth was never sown;

This Child I to myself will take;

she shall be mine, and I will make

A Lady of my own

In the first stanza, the speaker let’s the reader identify with Lucy. It is not hard to imagine a lively young three year old, playing in the sun or in the rain. But she was too lovely for earth, or so Nature decided. The speaker suggests that Nature has taken the child for herself because she was too beautiful for the earth.

Stanza Two

Myself will to my darling be

both law and impulse: and with me

The irl, in rock and plain,

In earth and heaven, in glade and bower

Shall feel an overseeing power

To kindle or restrain

The speaker shifts to thoughts of himself. He can easily see how Nature wanted this little girl for herself, lovely as she was, but he himself would need to respond to this loss. When he says that he will be “both law and impulse”, he implies that he will react in the way he is expected to react, and do the things he is expected to do, but he would not react without impulse. He would give way to his feelings and allow grief to have its way in his heart. He implies that as he walks the earth, and as he looks into the heavens, he will feel her presence as “an overseeing power” and he reveals that he will either kindle that feeling or restrain it, probably depending upon the time and circumstances in which this feeling arises.

Stanza Three

She shall be sportive as the fawn

That wild with glee across the lawn

Or up the mountain springs;

And hers shall be the breathing balm,

And hers the silence and the calm

Of mute insensate things

The speaker shifts tones once again in order to focus on her- Lucy. He has explained what this loss means to Nature, and to himself, but what does it mean for Lucy? He finds his comfort in this. Lucy is symbolic of Wordsworth’s daughter, Catherine, who died of Polio. The speaker believes that Lucy will be “sportive as the fawn” and able to run “across the lawn” as she was “wild with glee”. He believes that contrary to her limited physical ability on earth, in her new place, she would be able to enjoy running wild as a fawn. She would also enjoy “the silence and the calm”. The speaker finds comfort in this idea.

Stanza Four

The floating clouds their state shall lend

To her;for her the willow bend

Nor shall she fail to see

Even in the motions of the storm

Grace that shall mould the Maiden’s form

By silent sympathy

In this stanza of Three Years She Grew in Sun and Shower, the speaker continues to imagine what Lucy is now doing. He imagines her floating on clouds, and watching those on earth. He imagines that she should never “fail to see” the “silent sympathy” he feels for her.

Stanza Five

To stars of midnight shall be dear

To her; and she shall lean her ear

In many a secret place

Where rivulets dance their wayward round

And beauty born of murmuring sound

shall pass into her face

The speaker imagines that Lucy “shall be dear” even “to stars”. He imagines that she is enjoying her existence as she moves about in the night, being loved by the stars and all the heavenly beings.

Stanza Six

And vital feelings of delight

shall rear her form to stately height

her virgin bosom swell;

such thoughts to Lucy I will give

While she and I together live

Here in this happy dell

 

In this stanza, the speaker reveals his belief that although Lucy is no longer alive in earthly terms, she will still experience “vital feelings of delight” as she grows up into her “stately height” and into maturity. The imagery of her rearing her form “to stately height” and of “her virgin bosom swell[ing]” reveal his belief that wherever she is, wherever Nature has taken her, she will continue to grow up there, with all feelings of life and vitality. He vows to give these thoughts to Lucy daily, so that even though she exists in a different realm than he, they would still “together live here in this happy dell”.

Stanza Seven

Thus Nature spake- the work was done

How soon my Lucy’s race was run!

She died, and left to me

This heath, this calm, and quiet scene;

The memory of what has been,

And never more will be.

In this final stanza of Three Years She Grew in Sun and Shower, the speaker refers back to Nature. Nature is the authority in this situation, and she has said that “the work was done” and Lucy was no longer needed on earth. The speaker mourns over this, but he doesn’t resent it. He exclaims, “How soon my Lucy’s race was run!” and he is clearly grieving when he said, “she died and left to me this heath, this calm, and quiet scene”. This reveals that Lucy’s absence in his life is felt deeply. The absence of her laugh is painfully noticeable, and he is left only with memories of the past. Although the stanzas leading up to this final one speak of Lucy living a vital and fulfilling eternity, the speaker chooses to end Three Years She Grew in Sun and Shower with the grief that he feels in knowing that “what has been…never more will be”.

To end this poem in grief, even though all comforting words were spoken and acknowledged, is to be real and tangible to readers. Anyone who has experienced loss knows that all hope of an afterlife, and all words of comfort, cannot change the empty feeling and knowledge that what once was, is now changed forever. With this poem, Wordsworth offers hope and comfort, yet he does not deny the unending grief. For this reason, Three Years She Grew in Sun and Shower relates with many who have suffered loss, for Wordsworth reveals that he suffers too, and it that, there is some comfort for readers because they feel they are not alone.