William Wordsworth (1770-1850) was one of the most well known poets of the First generation Romantic Age. He is known for his collaboration with Samuel Taylor Coleridge on their work “Lyrical ballads” which led to the Romantic movement. He wrote an essay “Preface to the Lyrical ballads” which is considered to be one of the important piece of essay to understand Romantic school of poetry.
“Three Years She Grew in Sun and Shower” deals with powerful forces of nature and reflects on Wordsworthian philosophy where nature is the sole guardian and inspiration for a man. He tries to highlight nature as the teacher and a guide to Lucy who grew in the lap of nature and is molded by nature. Nature has given Lucy the basic guidance of life and organic bliss of calmness and solitude of nature to imbue in her mind.
The poem contains a Romantic characteristics of organic oneness. It implies the connectivity between man and nature and hence both the entity are one. Lucy was taken by nature as she was “a lovelier flower” which was “never sown on earth”. Nature considers her as her own “Child” and will be molded and guided as “A Lady of my own”. These lines suggests nature as a sole guardian for Lucy where Lucy has become one with nature and it is nature which will be guiding and molding her life. She died prematurely and left to the poet “This heath, this calm , and quiet scene” for she has become one with the nature. Her time on earth was very short and nature was able to guide and teach her in a proper prospects required for her and it is the “memory” which is left to the poet for it will “never more will be ” in the future.
The poem evokes the Romantic element of self-reflexivity. Wordsworth highlighted that “Poetry is just the image of man and nature” which reflects the idea of subjectivity and personal experiences. In the poem, the nature reflects on the interior feelings of the loss and sorrow he feels. He states that he will “both law and impulse” on the situation of grief but he will feel the presence of her in an “overseeing power” over the “The irl,in rock and plain” and whether to “kindle or restrain” whenever he feels. In addition to this, the poet further reflects on himself that he may not be able to see Lucy but he will be able to feel her presence in nature. He states that the “vital feelings of delight” will escalate to “stately height” and he hopes to transcend his feelings to Lucy so to know that “she and I together live” in the “happy dell”.
Wordsworth believed that nature is a source of inspiration and a moral guidance. Nature becomes a sole guidance and a leader to him. In the poem, nature is the guide to Lucy and nature will teach Lucy to be “sportive as the fawn”. She will be running around “wild with glee across the lawn” or “up the mountains” in resemblance to what she perceives in nature. The speaker also suggests that she will enjoy the solitude and calmness of nature in the “mute insensate things”. It reflects that Lucy will be molded and guided by the natural atmosphere of animals and organic calmness.
Lastly, the poem has the essence of Wordsworthian imagination. Wordsworthian imagination is the organic perception which he feels in the nature. Wordsworth imagines that the “floating clouds” will lend her and the “willow” trees will bend and show respect for her or in a way take care of her and comfort her. He states that she will not “fail to see” the calmness and power of silence during the worst state of nature or even in the “motions of the storm”. However, he further highlights that “stars of midnight” will be dear to her and she will be able to listen the “rivulets dance” and the “beauty born of murmuring sound” which will keep her in solitude and peace or happy.
