She dwelt among the untrodden ways
William Wordsworth’s poem “She dwelt among the untrodden ways” was written in 1798 and first published in 1800 in “Lyrical Ballads”, a volume combining Wordsworth and Coleridge’s verse. The poem is the best known of Wordsworth’s series of five “Lucy” poems and was a favourite among his early readers. The identity of Lucy, or even whether she was a real person, has never been ascertained.
William Wordsworth was born on 7 April 1770 in Cockermouth, Cumberland, England, and he died on 23 April 1850 in Rydal, Westmorland, England, at the age of 80.Wordsworth helped to launch the Romantic Age in English literature with his Lyrical Ballads, published jointly with Coleridge in 1798. He was Britain’s Poet Laureate from 1843 until his death, and his magnum opus is generally considered to be The Prelude, a semi-autobiographical poem of his early years that he revised and expanded a number of times.
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Wikipedia page on “She dwelt among the untrodden ways”
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She dwelt among the untrodden ways Beside the springs of Dove, A Maid whom there were none to praise And very few to love:
A violet by a mossy stone Half hidden from the eye! — Fair as a star, when only one Is shining in the sky.
She lived unknown, and few could know When Lucy ceased to be; But she is in her grave, and, oh, The difference to me!