The speaker is inspired only in and by England. The reference to the “green field” to which the muse turns her gaze singles out England’s natural landscapes as a particular source of inspiration. One is tempted to identify Wordsworth himself as the speaker, for he wrote often of the natural scenery of his native Lake District in England. The speaker’s two objects of love—Lucy and England—are intertwined. Her final gaze on England before her death seals this connection.

Wordsworth chooses the image of a bower—a place shaded by trees—as the location of the muse for two reasons. Metonymically, the natural world is a classic place of poetic inspiration, particularly for Wordsworth. Metaphorically, the bowers usefully evoke the shadowy nature of poetic inspiration: the poet pulls the words from darkness into light.

Lucy first appears at her spinning wheel by an “English fire.” The suggestion here is that the speaker can only find poetic inspiration when at home in England. The symbol of the spinning wheel is important. The image of Lucy spinning wool into thread evokes an ancient metaphor. In Greek mythology, a person’s life story took the form of a thread, spun and cut by the goddesses of fate. In British usage, “yarn” serves as a synonym for story. Thus, Lucy controls the thread of the speaker’s poetic output.

In a way, this is a love poem to England. Having spent time abroad, the speaker vows to commit to England. The speaker’s love of country represents an important theme. As will become clear, England is also important to the speaker as the home of Lucy, the beloved muse figure.

The speaker establishes the background of the narrative as well as the addressee. The speaker, addressing England itself, has returned home from travels abroad. The address to England is unique among the Lucy poems, which are otherwise addressed to an unknown audience. The speaker’s love of England, as a parallel to his for for Lucy, becomes one of the poem’s central themes.