William Wordsworth (7 April 1770 – 23 April 1850) was a major English Romantic poet. He was born in Wordsworth House in Cockermouth, Cumberland, Lake District.
"I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud"/ Draffodils" is one of the most famous and best-loved poems written in the English language composed in 1804. Though he subsequently revised it and the final, and most familiar version of the poem was published again in 1815. Wordsworth believes poetry to be, "the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings: it takes its origin from emotion recollected in tranquillity", and maybe that is how this poem came into being as well.
On one of his long walks with his sister Dorthy, he encounters a long belt of daffodils which had a lasting impact on him which induced him to write this poem after recalling it in tranquillity.
I wandered lonely as a cloud
That floats on high o'er vales and hills,
When all at once I saw a crowd,
A host of golden daffodils;
Beside the lake, beneath the trees,
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.
Continuous as the stars that shine
and twinkle on the Milky Way,
They stretched in never-ending line
along the margin of a bay:
Ten thousand saw I at a glance,
tossing their heads in sprightly dance.
The waves beside them danced; but they
Out-did the sparkling waves in glee:
A poet could not be but gay,
in such a jocund company:
I gazed—and gazed—but little thought
what wealth the show to me had brought:
For oft, when on my couch I lie
In vacant or in pensive mood,
They flash upon that inward eye
Which is the bliss of solitude;
And then my heart with pleasure fills,
And dances with the daffodils.
The poetic form of ‘I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud’ or popularly knowns as "Daffodils" is composed of four stanzas of six lines each. It is arranged in a quatrain-couplet (A quatrain is a verse form that is made up of four lines with fifteen different possible rhyme schemes) rhyming style, A-B-A-B-C-C.
First Stanza
The poet says that he wanders alone taking an aimless walk without any particular reason for it. Comparing himself to clouds that keeps moving without a particular reason or destiny. He mentions of strolling across hills and Valleys.
And suddenly his eyes caught a group of golden colour daffodils located beside a lake and beneath the tree, fluttering, that is, moving quickly, which seemed as if they were dancing to the light and cool wind.
Second Stanza
The poet compares these innumerable daffodils to the stars in the Milky Way. It is though to count stars in the sky as they are endless exactly like these daffodils on this field. They seem to have been stretched to an endless bay. The poet thinks it could be approximately ten thousand of them that are moving their heads as if they dancing to the breeze in high spirits.
Third Stanza
The poet further describes that although, the lake beside the endless daffodils bay shines with their small waves. But the daffodil’s dance to the breeze seems to be more sparkling than that, and these daffodils have overshadowed the shining waves on the lake. The poet tells the readers that, after having seen such a scenic beauty with his naked eyes how can he feel anything else but happy. He seems to have just stood there gazing at those endless daffodils thinking; can any amount of wealth bring such joy as watching these daffodils dancing.
Fourth Stanza
The poet has come back from his long walk and seems to have been recollecting the beautiful sight that he had encountered. When he sits on his couch thinking nothing at all or maybe reflecting the day the sight of those endless golden daffodils comes back in front of his eyes through his imagination, and that feels like a blissful sight when he is alone recalling. And it fills the poet's heart with immense joy and pleasure making his heart dances with those imaginative dancing daffodils.
Theme:
Nature
Memory
Imagination
Literary devices:
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