Tuesday, June 19, 2018

Can you help me paraphrase "She Dwelt Among the Untrodden Ways" by William Wordsworth?

Despite its compact form, William Wordsworth's "She Dwelt Among the Untrodden Ways" is a dense poem that incorporates many layers of meaning. As such, it can be quite difficult to paraphrase, especially if you're feeling unsure about the meaning of the poem. Though there's a great deal going on here, for our purposes I think it would be fine to focus on one aspect of the poem: the recognition of the ways in which the most ordinary being can still be existentially significant.
With this idea in mind, here's an example of a very short paraphrase of this poem:
Lucy, a young, relatively unknown girl, lived alone in nature far from conventional human society. Her dwelling place abounded with a great deal of natural beauty. Since she lived alone and had few connections to society, her death went more or less unnoticed. Even so, Lucy's death is considered to be highly significant for the narrator and (it's implied) an immense source of grief.
This quick paraphrase hardly does Wordsworth's excellent verse justice; however, it does highlight an important theme in the poem: the idea that even the most common person can achieve great significance. With this idea in mind, read the poem again and try to come up with your own paraphrased version.
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/45549/she-dwelt-among-the-untrodden-ways

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