"Surprised by Joy" is not an elegy- it does not wish to comfort those that are still alive not idealize those who have died. Instead the poem highlights how the mind remembers the dead, how thoughts keep those that have died alive, and how these thoughts inevitably make one have to confront death time and time again. In this way "Surprised by Joy" expresses the double pain and loss of death- not only the death itself but the fact that one can remember a loved one, and the fact that one can only wish that they were there with them in particular moments- in Wordsworth's case in moments of happiness when he is 'surprised by joy' and which has given the poem its title:
Surprised by joy-impatient as the Wind
I turned to share the transport-Oh! with whom
But Thee, deep buried in the silent tomb
Forgetting the Dead
However grim the subject and the vocabulary, the poem gives its readers a hopeful and strong resolution to death rather than an all consuming sorrow. The poem itself is about Wordsworth's daughter Catherine Wordsworth who died when she was still very young. The scene at the beginning of the poem is made all the sadder within this context: A father enjoying his trip down a bumpy road turns to his daughter to see her reaction, to share his enjoyment, when he realizes that he has forgotten that she is dead, "Knowing my heart's best treasure was no more; / That neither present time, not years unborn / Could to my sight that heavenly face restore".
Acceptance of Death
This re-experiencing of death as portrayed by Wordsworth however is one of acceptance. He forgets that his daughter is dead in moments of happiness but Wordsworth tries hard to portray that he is in fact in charge of his feelings because he has observed them, and effectively dealt with them. Wordsworth has been able to move on in life to experience these happy feelings that started the poem despite him having to experience 'the worst pang that sorrow ever bore'. The moving-on imagery in the poem itself makes up for the lack of visuals- the all important fact that life goes on.
Psychological Exploration of Grief
It is also true that a poem that deals with the psychological exploration of grief will try to find an answer to such a powerful feeling. The answer is hidden within the poem but can be found once the concept of time, as put forth by Wordsworth, is analyzed first. The convention of time is played with in the poem in the line 'Even for the least division of an hour'- in this line Wordsworth defines time as simply a convention since there is no actual passing of time before he remembers his daughter again, he just jumps from one point remembering her to the next. This of course is true because of 'Love, faithful love, recalled thee to my mind' which leads Wordsworth to conclude the fact that if time is simply a convention, the very feeling of love and the very feeling of sorrow is the one and the same experience- we feel love when we have something and sorrow when its taken away, so the former inevitably just sows a seed for the latter.
In William Wordsworth's poem "Surprised by Joy" the poem has rejected the traditional praising and glorification of the dead to concentrate on the internalized reality which loved ones still exist in after they have gone. In doing this Wordsworth exemplifies the values of high romanticism and the glorification of virtue- the poem is not only about death but the joy that can be felt despite the pain of a loved one passing away.
