"She Dwelt Among the Untrodden Ways"
She dwelt among the untrodden waysBeside the springs of Dove,A Maid whom there were none to praiseAnd very few to love:
A violet by a mossy stoneHalf hidden from the eye!--Fair as a star, when only oneIs shining in the sky.
She lived unknown, and few could knowWhen Lucy ceased to be;But she is in her grave, and, oh,The difference to me!
About this text
"She Dwelt Among the Untrodden Ways" is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Poetical Works of William Wordsworth — Volume 2 (of 8), Project Gutenberg ebook #12145; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: William Wordsworth, "She Dwelt Among the Untrodden Ways", in The Brothers, and Other Poems (1798–1807), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #12145, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/wordsworth-vol2/she-dwelt-among-the-untrodden-ways.html, id L17296.
Form and metre
"She Dwelt Among the Untrodden Ways" is 12 lines in 3 stanzas of 4 lines each. The rhyme scheme is ABAB, complete in 2 of its 3 stanzas. The metre is common measure, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 93%). 97% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 7.2 syllables. 42% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in common measure.
Measured by Laurel's pipeline, not copied from a handbook: how stress and metre are counted, how rhyme is lettered, how a drifted rhyme is found. Where the dictionary cannot confirm a rhyme the letter is withheld, not guessed.
Rhyme words, stanza by stanza
The word that ends each line, lettered by the rhyme it makes; a dash is a line whose rhyme the dictionary could not confirm.
- 1 ABAB waysA · doveB · praiseA · loveB
- 2 -A-A stone · eyeA · one · skyA
- 3 ABAB knowA · beB · ohA · meB
Scansion, line by line
Each line with its syllable count and the stresses the words themselves fix: / stressed, ˘ unstressed, · a syllable the word leaves free and the metre decides. Read against common measure. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| She dwelt among the untrodden ways | 9 | ········· |
| Beside the springs of Dove, | 6 | ˘/···· |
| A Maid whom there were none to praise | 8 | ········ |
| And very few to love: | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| A violet by a mossy stone | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Half hidden from the eye! | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| --Fair as a star, when only one | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Is shining in the sky. | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| She lived unknown, and few could know | 8 | ··˘/···· |
| When Lucy ceased to be; | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| But she is in her grave, and, oh, | 8 | ········ |
| The difference to me! | 6 | ·/˘˘·· |
On this poem
Notes from the edition 2
William Knight's notes to The Poetical Works of William Wordsworth, Volume 2 (1896; Project Gutenberg #12145): Wordsworth's own Isabella Fenwick notes and Knight's headnotes on composition and publication, plus his lettered footnotes (restarting at A for every poem).
- Stanza 1, line 4 1800. A very few ... 1802. The text of the edition of 1805 returns to that of 1800.
- Stanza 3, line 1 The word "lived" was italicised in the edition of 1800 only.
The reader shows the same poem with its rhymes coloured and a stress row above each line, the notes beside their stanzas, and any word's definition on a tap; the analysis page takes the whole book apart. How every part of this site was made.