I wondered lonely as a cloud by william wordsworth. Analysis of Wordsworth’s I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud 2022-10-19
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"I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud" is a poem written by William Wordsworth, a prominent figure in the Romantic movement. The poem describes the speaker's experience of coming across a field of daffodils, and how the memory of that moment brings joy to the speaker even when they are not physically present at the scene.
In the first stanza, the speaker describes their feeling of isolation and loneliness as they wander through the landscape. The use of the word "lonely" in the title sets the tone for the poem, and the image of the speaker wandering like a cloud further emphasizes their sense of detachment from the world around them.
However, as the speaker comes across the field of daffodils, they are immediately struck by their beauty and the way they dance in the breeze. The daffodils are described as "continuous as the stars that shine / And twinkle on the Milky Way," which adds to their sense of wonder and awe. The speaker is also struck by the way the daffodils seem to be celebrating life and joy, despite the fact that they are just flowers growing in a field.
In the final stanza, the speaker reflects on the enduring power of the memory of the daffodils, and how it brings them joy even when they are far away from the scene of the flowers. The speaker concludes that the memory of the daffodils "will live in me forever," which suggests that the experience of coming across the field of daffodils was a significant and meaningful one for the speaker.
Overall, "I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud" is a beautiful and evocative poem that explores the theme of the enduring power of beauty and joy. Through the speaker's encounter with the daffodils, Wordsworth suggests that even in moments of loneliness and isolation, we can find solace and happiness in the natural world around us.
The Romanticism of I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud by William Wordsworth Assignment
He himself thought they were better part of the poem. . The author of this article, Dr Oliver Tearle, is a literary critic and lecturer in English at Loughborough University. And it is then that sometimes the daffodils will flash upon him and make him remember the past with the intensity of the present. Retrieved 21 March 2014. We discuss his reference to the inward eye below.
I Wandered Lonely As A Cloud By William Wordsworth, Famous Nature Poem
Such pleasure is for Wordsworth the most important feature of human life and human dignity. In his book, The Things They Carried , Tim O'Brien has presented a collection of short, inter-related stories from his memoirs of the Vietnam War and an autobiography that aims to construct a reflection of his own experiences through the fictional character who shares… Although O'Brien emphasizes that the work is pure fictional rather than a true, historical account, it is quite evident that O'Brien's own feelings are reflected through his portrayal of the war in which he personally participated. The words are listed in the order in which they appear in the poem. Retrieved 23 December 2009. The Bays were stormy and we heard the waves at different distances and in the middle of the water like the Sea. It is a kind of recognition of the permanence of the past. This post first appeared on the Scottish Poetry Library blog www.
I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud by William Wordsworth
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. This gives authority to the voice in the poem thus enhancing the emotional description of the thematic issues in the poem. New York: Norton, 1973. It was composed by Romantic poet William Wordsworth around 1804, though he subsequently revised it—the final and most familiar version of the poem was published in 1815. This is not some languid and leisurely listlessness but rather purposeless drifting. The extent to which Wordsworth altered versions of events that were the origins of his poems should be noted here.
Analysis of Wordsworth’s I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud
. That was a drastic shift from the emphasis on science and reason of the Enlightenment era, which came before. Lyrical Ballads; it was the first from which he enjoyed the profits of copyright ownership. The extraordinary thing about the poem is the way its words continue to retain the impression the daffodils made on Wordsworth himself over two centuries ago. Samuel Taylor Coleridge disapproved of his friend dissipating his gift on shorter works. His heart fills with pleasure and as his heart race increases at the happy thought of the flowers, it seems to dance with the daffodils that danced along the side of the water.
Romantic readings: 'I wandered lonely as a Cloud' by William Wordsworth
The waves beside them danced; but they Out-did the sparkling waves in glee: A poet could not but be 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 shift in prepositions highlights this. He has the benefit of hindsight when he writes the poem and reflects how the daffodils looked to him. Like the cloud, he is detached somewhat from the landscape: it as if he, too, were floating above the valleys and hills, aimless and ineffectual, rather than within the landscape and fully part of it. On April 15th, we can celebrate the anniversary of the incident that inspired Wordsworth. Retrieved 23 December 2009. In the poem, these daffodils have a long-lasting effect on the speaker, firstly in the immediate impression they make and secondly in the way that the image of them comes back to the speaker's mind later on.
I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud Poem Summary and Analysis
. I never saw daffodils so beautiful they grew among the mossy stones about and about them, some rested their heads upon these stones as on a pillow for weariness and the rest tossed and reeled and danced and seemed as if they verily laughed with the wind that blew upon them over the lake, they looked so gay ever dancing ever changing Two years passed before Wordsworth set down his perceptions of that day. That pensive, sighing first line is the acme of the sensitive poet at work; witness the number of parodies there have been since its publication in 1807. Natural Supernaturalism: Tradition and Revolution in Romantic Literature. Each line is metered in iambic tetrameter.
Poems, in Two Volumes was poorly reviewed by Wordsworth's contemporaries. 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 word pleasure in the second-to-last line is not one that Wordsworth uses lightly. 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. Commentary This simple poem, one of the loveliest and most famous in the Wordsworth canon, revisits the familiar subjects of nature and memory, this time with a particularly simple spare, musical eloquence. . The waves beside them danced; but they Out-did the sparkling waves in glee: A poet could not but be 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.
Wordsworth’s Poetry “I wandered lonely as a cloud” Summary & Analysis
New York: Oxford University Press, 1989. During this walk, he and his sister encountered a long strip of daffodils. Others included " The earlier Lyrical Ballads, a collection of poems by both Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge, had been first published in 1798 and had started the romantic movement in England. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2004. Wordsworth compares the beautiful daffodils to stars on the Milky way, and thinks these flowers spread out in endless ways. The repetition in "I gazed" reveals its trance as you look at the flowers,.
