Stepping Westward
Stepping Westward - meaning Summary
Journey as Spiritual Destiny
Wordsworth presents a speaker who accepts a westward walk as more than physical travel: it feels like a "heavenly destiny" guided by the sky and affirmed by a companion's gentle greeting. The poem links landscape, companionship, and a courteous voice to a spiritual permission to roam, turning potential homelessness or chance into an expansive, blessed journey. The tone is serene, combining natural imagery with inward affirmation about travel and fate.
Read Complete Analyses"What, you are stepping westward?" "Yea." 'T would be a wildish destiny, If we, who thus together roam In a strange land, and far from home, Were in this place the guests of Chance: Yet who would stop, or fear to advance, Though home or shelter he had none, With such a sky to lead him on? The dewy ground was dark and cold; Behind, all gloomy to behold; And stepping westward seemed to be A kind of heavenly destiny: I liked the greeting; 't was a sound Of something without place or bound; And seemed to give me spiritual right To travel through that region bright. The voice was soft, and she who spake Was walking by her native lake: The salutation had to me The very sound of courtesy: Its power was felt; and while my eye Was fixed upon the glowing sky, The echo of the voice enwrought A human sweetness with the thought Of travelling through the world that lay Before me in my endless way.
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