Meter in The Lucy Poems

Wordsworth alters the meter in this line. After “My horse moved on,” the usual series of iambs—an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable—is broken. The phrase “hoof after hoof” begins with a trochee, a stressed syllable followed by an unstressed syllable. On one level, this sudden metrical jolt conveys the horse’s sudden movement away from the cottage. On a deeper level, this marks the narrative’s transition: the speaker will not see Lucy.

The horse is a classic literary symbol for the animalistic side of human nature. The rider on horseback then becomes a metaphor for the conscious mind observing the body’s deeper impulses and longings. The speaker’s unrequited longing for Lucy is one of the central themes of the series.

Wordsworth structures “Strange fits of passion have I known” as a ballad, a song-like poetic form with an ABAB rhyme scheme. The meter alternates between tetrameter and trimeter, so each four-beat line is followed by a three-beat line. This gives the poem a propulsive, musical feeling. The opening couplet establishes a confessional tone. The speaker "will dare to tell" a personal story. This rhetorical move raises the narrative stakes at the outset.