He wonders how he would ever live if Lucy should die. his horse neared the paths to Lucy’s cottage. William Wordsworth mentions the character “Lucy” many times throughout his poems, such as in At this point, the speaker tells of going to see his lover every day. He describes her beauty as “freshh as a rose in June” and he tells of how he went to her cottage in the evening beneath the moon. As the horse plodded on, the speaker continued to stare at the moon.

but only if he can speak it “in the Lover’s ear alone.” Lucy, the it would appear to the speaker to touch Lucy’s house in the distance. speaker was overcome with a strange and passionate thought, and It is not uncommon for people to feel an overwhelming fear of losing the person most dear to them. Strange Fits of passion have I known by William Wordsworth is a Lucy Poem. and effective of the many simple lyrics like it, written by Wordsworth

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When she I loved looked every day Fresh as a rose in June, I to her cottage bent my way, Beneath an evening moon. The recitation of

This is when the dream turns into a nightmare. horse, which travels “hoof after hoof,” just as the moon comes “near, Strange Fits of Passion Strange fits of passion have I known: And I will dare to tell, But in the Lover's ear alone, What once to me befell. Please support this website by adding us to your whitelist in your ad blocker. Please continue to help us support the fight against dementia.Subscribe to our mailing list to get the latest and greatest poetry updates.What's your thoughts? travels—the paths he loves, the orchard-plot, the roof of the house—heightens trimeter, respectively—which means that the first and third lines Anyone who has ever truly loved someone can identify with this fear. Each of its seven stanzas is four lines long and has a rhyming scheme of a-b-a-b.

Each stanza is four When she I loved looked every day Fresh as a rose in June, I to effect as part of his project to render common speech and common He did not slow down, but as they approached the cottage, the moon dropped.The speaker acknowledges that lovers thoughts are often wayward. lines long, each has alternating rhymed lines (an ABAB rhyme scheme), and

Composed during a sojourn in Germany in 1798, the poem was first published in the second edition of Lyrical Ballads(1800). fit an old, very simple ballad form, employed by Wordsworth to great

He wonders, often what Lucy thinks.

the objects of the familiar landscape through which the speaker The Here, the speaker continues to build up the anticipation of seeing his lover.

the unfamiliarity of the “strange fit of passion” into which the speaker The stanzas of “Strange fits of passion have I known”fit an old, very simple ballad form, employed by Wordsworth to greateffect as part of his project to render common speech and commonstories in poems of simple rhythmic beauty. The reader can relate to that feeling of anxious anticipation and longing to be with one’s lover.As his horse plodded on, he pondered over the dream, perhaps trying to remember the details. As he nears the path to her house, he quickens the pace of the horse, anxious to see her.Continuing to build the anticipation, the speaker describes the scenery.

The speaker proclaims that he has been the victim of “strange When she I loved looked every day Fresh as a rose in June, I to

Just as the moon disappears, the speaker has a horrible thought. to her cottage one night beneath the moon. and nearer still” to the house where Lucy lies. He reaches her orchard, and he and his horse climbed the hill as the moon began to sink. Ads are what helps us bring you premium content!

He stared at the moon as

William Wordsworth mentions the character “Lucy” many times throughout his poems, such as in Strange Fits of Passion Have I Known.Sometimes, she is symbolic of a lover, and other times of the pure and innocent love of a father for his child. Perhaps his “strange fits of passion” refers to the moment when fear of death suddenly seizes him and he is overwhelmed by his fear of losing his lover.Subscribe to our mailing list and get new poetry analysis updates straight to your inbox.We respect your privacy and take protecting it seriouslyAllisa graduated with a degree in Secondary Education and English and taught World Literature and Composition at the high school level.

‘Strange fits of passion have I known’ belongs to a small suite of poems William Wordsworth wrote about ‘Lucy’, a girl or young woman (her precise age is difficult to determine); along with ‘A slumber did my spirit seal’ (which does not mention Lucy by name) and ‘She dwelt among the untrodden ways’, ‘Strange fits of passion’ appeared in …