“Surprised by Joy” appears to defy the Romantic poetry tradition of which Wordsworth was a key part. Rejecting the Neo-Classical tradition that valued the intellect and conceived of a clockwork universe, the British Romantics instead prized the sublime power of nature, seeing in it the source of radiance, love, and exuberant joy. 

However, this poem instead foregrounds pain, sorrow, and grief. Rather than pining for loved ones separated by distance but certain eventually to return, the speaker chronicles a different kind of realization—the absolute reality of death. But the poem isn’t really turning away from the Romantic quest for awe and mystery; rather, Wordsworth points to this absolutism as a different kind of sublimity—a force just as powerful as the bounty of nature, and one equally impossible for a human being to fully comprehend.

The poem’s speaker is caught between a second of material reality—a burst of unexpected happiness triggered by something in the outside world—and his attempt to narrow his focus solely to the experiences of loved ones “long buried in the silent Tomb” (Line 3). But it is impossible for the thoughts of a living person to exclude the external world completely; no matter how committed he is to pondering only the grief of knowing that his heart’s “best treasure was no more” (Line 12), the speaker cannot help but be distracted from this obsessive mourning. He may castigate himself for his lapse, addressing the dead with the plea, “How could I forget thee?” (Line 6), but the poem makes it clear that he will always be under the sway of the sublime and overwhelming “power” (Line 6) that makes contemplation of grief alone impossible.