Lucy Gray
Poem :
1. the wild – uncultivated area of land where few people live; 2. break of day – dawn;
3. solitary – having no companion; 4. dwelt – lived; 5. moor – hilly land, covered with bushes and little plants; 6. spy – see; 7. fawn – a baby deer; 8. the green – land covered with grass; 9. minster-clock – the church-clock; 10. yonder – very far away;
14. yonder is the moon – Lucy means to say that there is yet enough time for the night to fall.
At this the father raised his hook,
And snapped a faggot-band;
He plied his work; – and Lucy Gray
The lantern in her hand.
Not blither is the mountain roe;
With many a wanton stroke
Her feet disperse the powdery snow,
That rises up like smoke.
The storm came on before its time;
She wandered up and down;
And many a hill did Lucy climb.
But never reached the town.
The wretched parents all that night
Went shouting far and wide;
But there was neither sound nor sight
To serve them for a guide.
At day break on a hill they stood
That overlooked the moor,
And thence they saw the bridge of wood,
A furlong from their door.
1. hook – sickle; scythe; 2. snapped – cut with a sharp noise; 3. faggot – bundle of
sticks; 4. faggot-band – the string with which the bundle had been tied; 5. plied his
work – became busy with his work; 6. blither (bithe-blither-blithest) – happier;
7. roe – a small female deer; 8. wanton – sportive; playful. 9. disperse – scatter;
10. wretched – very sad and unhappy; 11. far and wide – everywhere; 12. daybreak –
dawn; 13. overlooked – gave a view from above; 14. thence – from there.
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They wept and turning homeward cried.
“In heaven we all shall meet!”
When in the snow the mother spied
The print of Lucy’s feet.
Then downwards from the steep hill’s edge
They tracked the footmarks small;
And through the broken hawthorn hedge,
And by the long stone-wall.
And then an open field they crossed:
The marks were still the same.
They tracked them on, nor ever lost.
And to the bridge they came.
They followed from the snowy bank
Those footmarks, one by one,
Into the middle of the plank;
And further there were none:
Yet some maintain that to this day.
She is a living child;
That you may see sweet Lucy Gray
Upon the lonesome wild.
1. spied – saw; 2. steep – having a sharp slope; 3. traced – found after looking
carefully; 4. hawthorn – a thorny bush with white, red or pink flowers; 5. tracked –
followed; 6. snowy bank – bank of the stream that had been covered with snow;
7. plank – a long, heavy, thick and narrow piece of wood (that had been covered with
snow); 9. maintain – think as true; 10. lonesome – lonely.
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Comprehension and Appreciation of the Poem
I. Tick (✓) the correct answers:
1. Lucy had many friends.
2. Lucy’s mother was lost in the storm.
3. Lucy was the only child of her parents.
4. Lucy was an obedient and dutiful child.
5. Many people believe that Lucy is still alive.
6. Lucy did not carry any torch or lantern with her.
7. The storm came much later than it was expected.
8. Both Lucy’s father and mother went to look for her.
II. Answer each question briefly:
1. Who was Lucy Gray? Where did she live?
3. What did the father ask Lucy to do and why?
4. What shows that Lucy was a dutiful and loving child?
5. Why could Lucy not reach the town?
6. What did the parents do to find Lucy?
7. Lucy’s parents followed her footmarks.
Where did they reach at last?
8. What do you think could have happened to Lucy?
III. Work with your partner and make a list of all the rhyming words in the poem.
O’er rough and smooth she trips along,
And never looks behind;
And sings a solitary song
That whistles in the wind.
–William Wordsworth
1. trips – skips about with quick, light steps;
2. solitary song – song sung alone and in a lonely place.
