William Wordsworth’s “Surprised by joy — impatient as the Wind” is a Petrarchan sonnet with the traditional octave whose rime scheme is ABBAABBA and the traditional sestet with the rime scheme CDCDCD. The octave features two discreet quatrains and the sestet features two tercets.
Octave First Quatrain “Surprised by joy — impatient as the Wind”
The speaker is animated claiming to have been “surprised by joy.” The surprise of this joy impelled him to “share the transport” with his companion. He felt “impatient as the Wind” and unthinkingly turns to comment on his euphoria but then suddenly is brought back to the reality that the person with whom he intended to share his feeling is “deep buried in the silent tomb.”
Having died, his companion can no longer be accosted by the “vicissitude[s]” of the wind, the sun, or other joyful expressions of nature. The speaker is alone in his joy, and he is then compelled to capture that odd moment when the joy had been so strong that it made him briefly forget the death and think his loved one still alive and by his side.
Octave Second Quatrain: “Love, faithful love, recalled thee to my mind”
In the second quatrain of the octave, the speaker then reasons that his momentary lapse was caused by his deep “Love, faithful love”; this strong connection based on profound love heralded the departed loved one to the speaker’s mind, making him virtually feel that she indeed stood beside him as the joy swept through his being.
Sestet First Tercet: “To my most grievous loss?–That thought’s return”
But then the speaker questions the idea implied by his brief moment of forgetfulness that he could ever forget his beloved. He asserts rhetorically through his question that no power could exert itself sufficiently to “blind” him to his “most grievous loss.”
He then avers that having that thought of the fact that his beloved had died brought “the worst pang that sorrow ever bore.” However, he then qualities that claim by stating that there was one—“one only”—other occasion when he had suffered such a grief.
Sestet Second Tercet: “Knowing my heart’s best treasure was no more”
That other occasion occurred as he “stood forlorn” just after the death of his loved one, probably by the gravesite. At that time, as he stood by the grave of the departed, he suffered deeply “knowing my heart’s best treasure was no more.”
He recalls the distressing awareness that he would never look upon “that heavenly face” again. He remembers thinking that time “neither present time, nor years unborn” would ever resolve the grief he was experiencing.
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