How we cite our quotes: (Line)
Quote #4
What fond and wayward thoughts will slide
Into a Lover's head!
"O mercy!" to myself I cried,
"If Lucy should be dead!" (25-28)
The first time we read this, we admit, this stanza caught us by surprise. Why would a poem about visiting your honey end with thoughts of death? We thought it over, though, and realized that this is kind of Wordsworth's whole point. There's always a price to be paid for love, and this case is no exception. The speaker's suffering in this final stanza is simply the cost of falling in love. If he didn't care about Lucy, her death wouldn't be anything to worry about.