The Poetical Works of William Wordsworth Volume Ii Part 38

"He mentioned the origin of some poems. 'Lucy Gray', that tender and pathetic narrative of a child lost on a common, was occasioned by the death of a child who fell into the lock of a ca.n.a.l. His object was to exhibit poetically entire 'solitude', and he represents the child as observing the day-moon, which no town or village girl would ever notice."

A contributor to 'Notes and Queries', May 12, 1883, whose signature is F., writes:

"THE SCENE OF 'LUCY GRAY'.--In one of the editions of Wordsworth's works the scene of this ballad is said to have been near Halifax, in Yorkshire. I do not think the poet was acquainted with the locality beyond a sight of the country in travelling through on some journey. I know of no spot where all the little incidents mentioned in the poem would exactly fit in, and a few of the local allusions are evidently by a stranger. There is no 'minster'; the church at Halifax from time immemorial has always been known as the 'parish church,' and sometimes as the 'old church,' but has never been styled 'the minster.' The 'mountain roe,' which of course may be brought in as poetically ill.u.s.trative, has not been seen on these hills for generations, and I scarcely think even the 'fawn at play' for more than a hundred years.

These misapplications, it is almost unnecessary to say, do not detract from the beauty of the poetry. Some of the touches are graphically true to the neighbourhood, as, for instance, 'the wide moor,' the 'many a hill,' the 'steep hill's edge,' the 'long stone wall,' and the hint of the general loneliness of the region where Lucy 'no mate, no comrade, knew.' I think I can point out the exact spot--no longer a 'plank,' but a broad, safe bridge--where Lucy fell into the water.

Taking a common-sense view, that she would not be sent many miles at two o'clock on a winter afternoon to the town (Halifax, of course), over so lonely a mountain moor--bearing in mind also that this moor overlooked the river, and that the river was deep and strong enough to carry the child down the current--I know only one place where such an accident could have occurred. The clue is in this verse:

'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.'

The hill I take to be the high ridge of Greetland and Norland Moor, and the plank she had to cross Sterne Mill Bridge, which there spans the Calder, broad and rapid enough at any season to drown either a young girl or a grown-up person. The mountain burns, romantic and wild though they be, are not dangerous to cross, especially for a child old enough to go and seek her mother. To sum up the matter, the hill overlooking the moor, the path to and distance from the town, the bridge, the current, all indicate one point, and one point only, where this accident could have happened, and that is the bridge near Sterne Mill. This bridge is so designated from the Sterne family, a branch of whom in the last century resided close by. The author of 'Tristram Shandy' spent his boyhood here; and Lucy Gray, had she safely crossed the plank, would immediately have pa.s.sed Wood Hall, where the boy Laurence had lived, and, pursuing her way to Halifax, would have gone through the meadows in which stood Heath School, where young Sterne had been educated. The mill-weir at Sterne Mill Bridge was, I believe, the scene of Lucy Gray's death."

Sterne Mill Bridge, however, crosses the river Calder, while Wordsworth tells us that the girl lost her life by falling "into the lock of a ca.n.a.l." The Calder runs parallel with the ca.n.a.l near Sterne Mill Bridge.

See J.R. Tutin's 'Wordsworth in Yorkshire'.--Ed.

VARIANTS ON THE TEXT

[Variant 1:

1800.

Oft had I heard ...

Only in the second issue of 1800.]

[Variant 2:

1800 (2nd issue).

She dwelt on a wild Moor 1800.

She lived on a wide Moor MS.]

[Variant 3:

1800.

... bright ... C.]

[Variant 4:

1800.

He snapped ... MS.]

[Variant 5:

1827.

And now they homeward turn'd, and cry'd 1800.

And, turning homeward, now they cried 1815.]

[Variant 6:

1800.

The Mother turning homeward cried, "We never more shall meet,"

When in the driven snow she spied MS.]

[Variant 7:

1840.

Then downward ... 1800.

Half breathless ... 1827.]

[Variant 8:

1800.

... and never lost Till ... MS.]

[Variant 9:

1827.

The ... 1800.]

[Variant 10:

1800.

... was ... 1802.