Three Years She Grew
by William Wordsworth
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Part of Wordsworth's famous 'Lucy Poems', this romantic lyric tells how Nature adopts and educates a beautiful young girl, only for her to die young. For three years Lucy grows in the beauty of 'sun and shower', until Nature declares that a 'lovelier flower' was never seen and decides to take her and mould her into 'A Lady of my own'. Nature promises to be both 'law and impulse' to Lucy, giving her a unique education: playfulness and agility from the leaping fawn, silence and calm from insensate things, dignity from the floating clouds, grace from the motions of the storm, and beauty from the midnight stars and murmuring rivulets. Nature completes her work and makes Lucy a perfect being, but the poem ends in sudden tragedy: 'How soon my Lucy's race was run!' She dies young, leaving the speaker alone in a calm, empty landscape with nothing but the memory of a beautiful life 'that has been, / And never more will be'.
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William Wordsworth (1770–1850), the great English Romantic poet of Nature, wrote this poem as one of his celebrated 'Lucy Poems'. It imagines Nature as a loving parent who adopts and shapes a girl named Lucy, and mourns her early death.
Nature's adoption of Lucy
For three years Lucy grows in the beauty of 'sun and shower'. Looking down at her, Nature declares that a 'lovelier flower' was never seen on earth and decides to adopt the young girl, taking her to the wilderness to mould her into 'A Lady of my own'.
The education of Nature
Nature promises to be both 'law and impulse' to Lucy, guiding her behaviour and sparking her feelings. Under Nature's care she receives a unique education: she learns playfulness and agility from the fawn leaping across the mountain springs; she absorbs silence, calm and peace from the quiet, insensate things of the earth.
The floating clouds lend her their state and dignity, and she learns grace from the motions of the storm. The midnight stars become dear to her, and the sweet sound of murmuring rivulets passes into her face, giving her a natural beauty.
The tragic climax and grief
Nature successfully completes her work, transforming Lucy into a perfect, pure being. But the story ends in sudden tragedy: 'How soon my Lucy's race was run!' Lucy dies young, leaving the speaker in absolute grief.
The poet is left alone in a calm, quiet and empty landscape, with nothing but the painful memory of a beautiful life that has been, 'And never more will be'.