Hello and welcome to the Discourse. ‘Strange Fits of Passion Have I Known’ is the first of the Lucy Poems by William Wordsworth that was published in the poetic collection “Lyrical Ballads, with a few other Poems” in 1798. The collection also contained poems by Samuel Taylor Coleridge. Lyrical Ballads is the beginning of the Romantic movement in English literature.
The Lucy Poems are a series of five poems by Wordsworth that he wrote between 1798 and 1801. The other four poems of the series include "She dwelt among the untrodden ways", "I travelled among unknown men", "Three years she grew in sun and shower", and "A slumber did my spirit seal". Four poems of the series (except “I traveled among unknown men”) were published in the second edition of Lyrical Ballads in 1800.
The “Lucy Poems” convey the unrequited love of the speaker for a woman named Lucy. Wordsworth never revealed the identity of Lucy. She is only mentioned and never appears as a speaker. Wordsworth portrays her as a young maiden who lived an unremarkable and isolated life near the River Dove in the English Midlands. She carries a quiet grace, but might well be seen frolicking with glee. Although blessed with beauty, she never had many suitors due to the distance she kept between herself and others. She died young, and though her passing went unnoticed and unremarked by many, it forever and profoundly changed the life of the speaker—one who loved her from afar. Wordsworth did not intend to present them as a group or in a particular sequence. However, in 1831, literary critic Thomas Powell recognized the works as a collection unified by a common theme. Wordsworth had lost his brother and father and he was worried about his sister. It is believed that Lucy represents his sister, or she could simply be his poetic muse.
In the poem ‘Strange Fits of Passion Have I Known’ the poet discusses the strange thoughts which he suffered once. The poet was traveling on his horse to meet his beautiful beloved Lucy on a moonlit night. As he continued to look at the moon all the way, the moon was gradually sinking. When he came nearer to Lucy’s cottage, the moon suddenly dropped behind the cottage and it brought to his mind the fearful thought of Lucy’s death.
Structure and Themes of Strange Fits of Passion Have I Known:
The poem is written in the form of a simple ballad. It contains 7 quatrains with an ABAB rhyme scheme. The rhythm and rhyme scheme of the poem makes it almost like a nursery rhyme. The meter alternates between a tetrameter and a trimeter, so each four-beat line is followed by a three-beat line. The first and third lines of the stanza have four accented syllables, and the second and fourth lines have only three.
The poet used imagery, symbolism, simile, metaphor, assonance, and consonance. The poem's major themes include love, the natural world, and death. The poet’s unrequited longing for Lucy and the tension between fantasy and reality are the central themes of the poem.
Summary of Strange Fits of Passion Have I Known:
Stanza 1 Lines 1-4
“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.”
In the opening stanza, the poet reveals that he once experienced ‘strange fits of passion’. He admits that these passionate thoughts were too personal and he has no courage to tell anyone except his lover alone. This may imply that the fits he experienced are of intense love full of sexual feelings. Certainly, these fits are passionate and the poet longs for his lover. He longs to whisper into her ear and tell her of his deepest feelings and of these strange fits of passion that he experiences.
However, these fits of passion may not be of sexual nature. The poet may also mean that he will not share these strange fits of passion with anyone but a lover who understands such passion. He believes only a person who has been in love will be able to understand this emotion better and hence, he wishes to whisper his strange fits of passion that affected him once. The poet suggests that none other than the lovers can understand this poem well.
Stanza 2 Lines 5-8
“When she I loved looked every day
Fresh as a rose in June,
I to her cottage bent my way,
Beneath an evening-moon.”
In the second stanza, the poet begins expressing his strange fits. He begins describing his beloved using a Simile as he compares the similarity between the beauty of the poet’s lover to the rose in June. The comparison suggests that Lucy is young and perhaps, the poet is describing his young teenage passionate love. He says that once he made a journey (bent my way) to his lover’s cottage on a moonlit evening. The poet uses visual imagery to create a beautiful scene where the speaker is going to meet his love.
Stanz 3 Lines 9-12
“Upon the moon I fixed my eye,
All over the wide lea;
With quickening pace my horse drew nigh
Those paths so dear to me.”
The poet continues using imagery while describing his journey to his lover’s cottage. He was continuously looking at the moon while traveling through the wide grassland (lea) as the light of the moon fell all over the meadow. In anticipation of a lovely meet, the poet drew closer to his beloved’s house with increasing speed. The pathways were dear and known to him, for they led to his dear beloved’s house.
Stanza 4 Lines 13-16
“And now we reached the orchard-plot;
And, as we climbed the hill,
The sinking moon to Lucy’s cot
Came near, and nearer still.”
The poet builds the scenery using imagery. Soon he reached a fruit garden (orchard plot) in the way and then he and his horse began climbing a hill. His beloved cottage (cot) was visible to him. Here, the poet mentions his beloved’s name is Lucy. As he and his horse climbed up the hill, he noticed that the moon appeared to come nearer as it appeared to go down and hide behind Lucy’s cot. The expression “near and nearer still” suggests that his beloved’s cottage was far away and the journey wasn’t easy, yet he was hopeful and passionate, believing that every difficult journey has a beautiful destination. Meanwhile, the moon continued to go down to the horizon seeming to be sinking right on Lucy’s cottage, which suggests that the poet had traveled all night and it was too late.
In this stanza, the poet also uses Metaphor, comparing the sinking moon to the journey that is about to come to an end because the distance of reaching Lucy’s house is shorter and shorter.
Stanza 5 Lines 17-20
“In one of those sweet dreams I slept,
Kind Nature’s gentlest boon!
And all the while my eye I kept
On the descending moon.”
The poet says that the journey towards his beloved is like a sweet dream. “All the while” he kept his eyes on the descending moon. He felt very much like he was in a dream. The light of the moon, the ride, and the feeling of love are all coming together to make the speaker feel that he is living in a dream. He describes the dream as the kindest gift of nature (Nature’s gentlest boon). It was a beautiful and amazing night to be to him. He felt nature was kind to him and that night was a blessing to him as he was going to meet his beloved. He began dreaming about the sweet things that would happen when he would finally meet Lucy. However, his eyes were fixed on the descending moon, and noticed that the brilliant moonlight was fading.
Stanza 6 Lines 21-24
“My horse moved on; hoof after hoof
He raised, and never stopped:
When down behind the cottage roof,
At once, the bright moon dropped.”
The poet’s horse continued to plod forward as he reached closer and closer to his beloved’s cottage. While he was still dreaming of the sweet things that would happen when he met his beloved, the moon disappeared behind the roof of Lucy’s cottage. The poet now had no moonlight to guide him.
Stanza 7 Lines 25-28
“What fond and wayward thoughts will slide
Into a Lover’s head!
“O mercy!” to myself I cried,
“If Lucy should be dead!””
Now it was dark as the moon had sunk behind Lucy’s cot. The sweet dreams of the poet began to disappear and a dark melancholy engulfed his mind. A wayward foolish thought disturbed him and it was really terrible. He cries out within his head, “O mercy!” and he thinks about the terrible possibility that “Lucy should be dead”. His sweet dreams appeared to turn into a nightmare. He feels an overwhelming fear of losing the person most dear to him. Somehow at the back of his mind, he believed that the moon was directly connected to the life of Lucy. And here ends the poem.
One may interpret that Lucy might have already been dead and the poem is about the poet’s journey to his lover’s house while he unconsciously forgot that she already died.
So this is it for today. We will continue to discuss the history of English literature. Please stay connected with the Discourse. Thanks and Regards!
