Strange fits of passion have I known - William Wordsworth

 

Strange fits of passion have I known[M1] ,
And I will dare to tell,
But in the lover's ear alone,
What once to me befel[M2] .

When she I loved looked every day
Fresh as a rose in June[M3] ,[M4] 
I to her cottage bent my way,
Beneath an evening moon.[M5] 

Upon the moon I fixed my eye[M6] ,
All over the wide lea;
With quickening pace my horse drew nigh
Those paths so dear to me.

And now we reached the orchard-plot,
And, as we climbed the hill,
The sinking moon[M7]  to Lucy's cot
Came near, and nearer [M8] still.

In one of those sweet dreams I slept,
Kind Nature's[M9]  gentlest boon!
And, all the while, my eyes I kept
On the descending moon.

My horse moved on; hoof after hoof[M10] 
He raised, and never stopped:
When down behind the cottage roof
At once, the bright moon dropped[M11] .

What fond and wayward thoughts will slide
Into a Lover's head!
“O mercy!” to myself I cried,
“If Lucy should be dead!”[M12] 

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 [M1]Inversion – to highlight the phrase “strange fits of passion”

 [M2]Inversion  - in order to maintain the rhyming scheme

 [M3]Simile “she” and “rose in June” are compared

 [M4]Runon lines/ enjambment

 [M5]Visual image

 [M6]Inversion

 [M7] A motif – beauty, gentleness – hints that the romance may not end in marriage

 [M8]Repetition – indicates the poet is moving closer to Lucy’s cottage

 [M9]Personification of Nature

 [M10]Repetition

 [M11]Visual image

 [M12]Direct quotations and exclamations – to show the poet’s excitement