Strange Fits of Passion Essay -- Literary Analysis, Shakespeare

The lunatic, the lover, and the poet, are of imagination all compact. William Shakespeare, Mid-Summer Nights Dream, 1595, this quote by Shakespeare is a authoritative illustration of Wordsworths persona in his verse Strange Fits of Passion I have known. In the verse form the speaker embarks on a do work horse ride to his lover lucys cottage it is during his ride there that the speaker engages in lunatic thoughts imagining lucy beingness dead when he arrives to see her. The poem is remarkablely characterized by the adverse effects of love on a person, as well as how nature has an effect on human feeling the latter being a staple theme in many of Wordsworths literary pieces.In the first stanza the speaker begins to vocalize the thought he had experienced while travelling to his lovers cottage. Strange fits of passion have I known And I will dare to tell, But in the Lovers ear alone, What once to me befell.The speaker des cribes his sudden outburst of emotion as strange as he is keenly aware that his thoughts of lucy being dead are peculiar. It is common that when in love a person may pay heed to their imagination moreso than reality The line But in the Lovers ear alone(Line three) is the speaker saying that he will share his strange thoughts but only to those who, like him, are in the throes of passion for they would understand the affects love can have on a person Wordsworth is known for his references to nature in many of his poems , the second stanza in this poem doesnt stray from that commonality. When she I loved looked every day Fresh as a rose in June, I to her cottage bent my way, ... ...n his chest.The concluding stanza at last reveals the speakers thoughts that have been accumulating throughout the poem. What fond and wayward thoughts will slide Into a Lovers toss O mercy to myself I cri ed, If Lucy should be deadAppalled at this final revelation it is apparent that the speaker has experienced similar thoughts and that sometimes despite spacious efforts your imagination can steer your thoughts to the contrary of rational thinking What fond and wayward thoughts will slide ( Line 25) Into a Lovers head (Line 26). Strange fits of passion is another poem by Wordsworth that uses nature as a medium when conveying human emotion but provides a unique portrayal of the absurdities of emotional experience that can evolve from passionate love.