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8. CONSONANCE Consonance appears quite a bit in the poem. Each case emphasizes and deepens the meanings of the consonant words, while also adding to the poem's musicality. In stanza 1, for instance, /d/ sounds link "dwelt," "untrodden," "Maid," and "Beside" to convey Lucy's contradictory nature. The /d/ sound itself, which is solid, heavy, and closed, contributes to the sense of Lucy as a rooted person with clearly identifiable attributes. She lived, or "dwelt," in a very real place; the speaker gets specific enough to explain that she lived by the head of the Dove River. The words also refer to physical space. In order to have "dwelt," Lucy had to have been somewhere. "[U]ntrodden" refers to a place people might pass over. And "Beside" locates her geographically. These words also, however, emphasize Lucy's ungraspable quality. First, "dwelt" is a rather vague word; it doesn't describe how Lucy actually spent her time. "[U]ntrodden," of course, refers to the fact that no one really knew Lucy well enough to report on what her life was like. And "Beside" places Lucy in the margin, out of sight (it serves the same purpose as "by" in line 5). Later, in stanza 3, the /w/ sounds among "unknown," "few," and "know" work with the stanza's assonance to enhance its mournful tone. Like the assonant /o/ sounds, the /w/ sounds require a rounding of the lips. One might round their lips to sing a song of remembrance or howl in grief. The speaker's grief is a bit more muted than a howl (notice the softness of the apostrophized "oh"), but the sounds certainly encourage the reader to participate in that grief by literally forming the words. This stanza, too, is notably the first to actually reveal Lucy's name, which is linked via /s/ consonance to the word "ceased." As soon as Lucy fully appears in the poem, then, she is gone, "ceasing" to be. Where Consonance appears in the poem: • Line 1: “d,” “t,” “t,” “dd” • Line 2: “s,” “d,” “s,” “D” • Line 3: “M,” “d,” “m,” “r,” “r,” “r” • Line 4: “v,” “v” • Line 5: “v,” “ss,” “s” • Line 6: “H,” “f,” “h,” “f” • Line 7: “F,” “r,” “r,” “n,” “n,” “n” • Line 8: “n,” “n” • Line 9: “d,” “n,” “w,” “n,” “w,” “d,” “n,” “w” • Line 10: “W,” “c,” “c,” “s,” “b” • Line 11: “B,” “r,” “r”