The madman, the lover and the poet are all compact in imagination. ~ William Shakespeare, A Midsummer Night's Dream, 1595, This quote from Shakespeare is a definitive illustration of Wordsworth's character in his poem Strange Fits of Passion That I Have Known. In the poem, the speaker embarks on a moonlit horseback ride to the cottage of his lover Lucy; it is during his journey there that the speaker engages in “crazy” thoughts, imagining Lucy dead when he arrives to see her. The poem is uniquely characterized by the detrimental effects of love on a person, as well as how nature has an effect on human emotion; the latter being a basic theme in many of Wordsworth's literary pieces. In the first stanza, the speaker begins to express the thought he experienced while traveling to his lover's house. I have experienced strange attacks of passion: And I would dare to say it, but only in the lover's ear, which happened to me once. The speaker describes his sudden outburst of emotion as "strange" because he is acutely aware that his thoughts about Lucy's death are peculiar. It is common that in love, a person pays more attention to their imagination than to reality; In the phrase "But in the lover's ear only" (Line three), the speaker says that he will share his "strange" thoughts but only with those who, like him, are in the grip of passion because they would understand the effects that love can have on a person Wordsworth is known for his references to nature in many of his poems, the second stanza of this poem does not stray from this commonality. When she whom I loved looked every day Fresh as a rose in June, I leaned towards her cottage path,...... middle of paper...... into her chest. The final stanza finally reveals the speaker's thoughts that have been accumulating throughout the poem. What affectionate and capricious thoughts will slip into the head of a lover! O mercy! » I cried out: “If Lucy had died!” » Appalled by this final revelation, it is evident that the speaker has experienced similar thoughts and that sometimes, despite great effort, your imagination can direct your thoughts in the opposite direction from rational thought. capricious thoughts will slip (line 25) into a lover's head! "(Line 26). Strange Fits of Passion is another Wordsworth poem that uses nature as a medium to convey human emotion, but provides a unique depiction of the absurdities of emotional experience that can evolve from a love keen..