Wordplay in Stange Fits Of Passion

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Words with Hidden Values

Words can be used for many things such as describing, depicting, or disguising a person’s thoughts or ideas. In a lyrical ballad called Strange fits of passion have I known by William Wordsworth, he does a great job of using different words to give out many thoughts and ideas. This is why poetry is used as a freedom of expression. Any poet can use wordplay to create and inspire readers to think, and dig deep for a certain meaning or purpose.

Wordsworth , I thought was very good a using words to create a different meaning than what the words actually meant. His words if looked at closely could have meant a million and one different things.

But in the Lover’s ear alone,

What once to me befel.(Wordsworth 3,4)

These few lines in the first stanza of his poem are pretty basic and do not give much to think about. They do give the start to the poem and the basic tone or idea. Line three could represent some sort of secret that only one would tell to someone they really love or trust. With line four it states that he was the one trusted with some sort of secret.

The lines of stanza two become a little more creative and give some good starting ideas.

When she I loved looked every day

Fresh as a rose in June,

I to her cottage bent my way,

Beneath an evening moon. (Wordsworth 5-8)

These lines are were the reader can now start becoming creative and coming up with possible ideas of what Wordsworth is trying to say. It is pretty obvious the first two lines are talking about how beautiful this girl is that Wordsworth is in love with. Then the next two lines are interesting to me. The idea I came up with is that Wordsworth was away from his lover doing something, but suddenly for some reason had to drop what he was doing and go to her. I was able to think of these because “I to her cottage bent my way” means that he had to change what he was doing. Then with “Beneath an evening moon” could mean he was in a rush since he is traveling at night and could not wait for morning to come about.

With stanza four I became a little more creative with Wordsworth’s wordplay.

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