The poem
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 leaves 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.
I think the poem tries to explain that your mood can changed depending on your surroundings. If your force yourself to be around happy people then it will rub off on you. Kind of like how he "dances with the daffodils". Maybe Im wrong though.
i wandered lonely as a cloud
I am doing a project on Wordsworth and in all of his poems you can find the same theme... little moments in life help shape you into the person you are today. He remembers the daffodils he saw and that makes him smile when he's down. That one moment changed his life.
I think that this poem is all about Wordsworth being surrounded by superficial people obsessed with their own importance. He uses the daffodil, which are related to Narcissus, to illustrate different people. he sees this in nature as a beautiful thing, and often wishes that he could return to this great state of nature's perfection, seen in the daffodil. who's with me?
I think Wordsworth is here trying to express the infinite power of the imagination, through which he journeys. It is through such imaginative voyages that he is able to express his inner deires and emotion and excape the physical limitations and restraints imposed upon him through life and today's society...
It is here he finds himself at peace as he "dances with the daffodils" ...
Don't trust me though ... think about it yourself!!
I think this poem is about William Wordsworth's surroundings and what he did was write what he saw.
He describes a scene he encountered about two years prior to writing this poem. His fantastical account gives insight into the way he views the world around him. These daffodils are not the pretty little things that decorate the shoreline, he makes them into an army, a mob that is crazed and wild with competition (with the lake). This is like the way he sees those aound him. Even the simplist things, like flowers, can be putting on a show. Think about it.
i have two strong connections to this poem; first, i am a lyrical poet of absolutely no stature, and second, daffs are my favorite flower. i think wordsworth ( can that possibly be the name of a poet? )did what i often did. i think he saw something so beautiful that he just had to tell us about it; that's all, no deeper meaning than beauty.poets do that sort of thing. his turned out to be timeless--mine lies moulding in a drawer.
The poem strikes me as one that is much like Frost's "The Road Not Taken". It's not in the present time, which seems quite important to me. And like Frost's poem, I think some of the meaning is either ignored or stretched too far. To go so far as to compare the daffodils to all the people he's met, putting on a show like the players of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern seems to take the poem into almost existentialism,…
Read the whole commentThe poem strikes me as one that is much like Frost's "The Road Not Taken". It's not in the present time, which seems quite important to me. And like Frost's poem, I think some of the meaning is either ignored or stretched too far. To go so far as to compare the daffodils to all the people he's met, putting on a show like the players of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern seems to take the poem into almost existentialism, especially compared with Narcissus. Nor do I think that the flowers are calming, because they are "a host". I had read somewhere that Wordsworth had shared the same moment with his sister in writing, so it was, in truth, a very important moment for him to reflect upon.
I think that sometimes the speaker's actual speech in a poem is disregarded as readers skip to the meaning of it. Like in Eliot's "Prufrock", it's necessary to understand that it's the speaker speaking to us. Instead of picking apart the glee and gaiety of the spritely flowers, I think the speaker is trying to say to us to regard beauty of its sort in a bigger view. He saw this mass of flowers as "a host", not individual flowers, and was more than enthused-- overpowered by it. There is no one point to the poem but to accept beauty for what it is-- let beauty as a whole impress you, and don't pick it apart for understanding. And I think to attach a heavy meaning to the flowers would burden their urgent glory. Basically, Wordsworth meant that you must find a moment of holistic beauty for its own sake, not yours, and keep it for all the times when analysis of a tired life encumbers your spirit.
I think that the poem is about how he was alone (as it says in the title and in the first line of the poem that he was lonely) and then he goes and describes how daffodils made him feel not so lonely anymore. He writes that when he was on his couch in solitude, which is when he is alone, his heart fills with the pleasures of the daffodils, because he remembers the ten thousand daffodils he described earlier in the poem. He is such an inspiring poet, and can take such a simple sentence about how lonely you can be, but then how something so little as a flower can change your mood in an entirely different way.
Obviously literature of this nature can be taken to whatever inventive extremes you like, but what one must always bear in mind when reading wordsworth, is that he was one of the first writers of the English Romantic era, he merely wrote about the simple beauty of his surroundings. It certainly isnt about how he was alone, when he composed the piece, he had just returned from a walk with his most beloved sister, and they noticed a immense number of daffodils, which demonstrates that inspiration can be drawn from the smallest of sources.
This poem is very wonderful!!My Engish sir adores it as well, Hope anyone who reads this poem will also enjoy it just the way we did!!
BYE!
the Romantic poets usually wrote nature poetry, meaning they would emphasise the beauty of their surroundings and how it effects them. Wordsworth is no exception though i think that he focused on the unity of man and nature. he does this by using a simile 'i wander'd lonely as a cloud' (1st line) this describes him as something from nature (the cloud). later on he goes on to describe the daffodils through the use of personification e.g. 'fluttering and dancing in the breeze' (6th line). basically he is linking nature and man to one another...therefore emphasising the unity between man and nature...only a theory...
have fun with the poem
Hi,
i just read some of your comments and I am really amased at what thoughts are standing behind this little poem! I am still going to school and I have to interpret this piece of literature and your comments gave me an idea what Wordsworth wanted to say in this little poem. It is not about being alone, but about the beauty of nature and how something so "little" given by nature can inspre one.
i had to analyze this poem for a lacture and you all gave a great help!thanks a lot!!
Wordsworth follows the convention of the Romantic Poets, writing in the period of the Romantics and, like Coleridge, writing about his pantheistic beliefs. "Pantheistic" is the love of nature and the belief that God is in nature, so it is worthy of worship. His description of nature, in this case the daffodils, is not to show that he is necessarily lonely, but they are the vehicle for thought for the imaginative…
Read the whole commentWordsworth follows the convention of the Romantic Poets, writing in the period of the Romantics and, like Coleridge, writing about his pantheistic beliefs. "Pantheistic" is the love of nature and the belief that God is in nature, so it is worthy of worship. His description of nature, in this case the daffodils, is not to show that he is necessarily lonely, but they are the vehicle for thought for the imaginative journey that he partakes of. His lonliness he speaks of is only that of lack of human company, and in this he finds the company of the daffodils far more intriguing. He then discovers that although he was privy to see the glory of the flowers he was not able to take in just what wonder and beauty the daffodils offered. So, in reflection, Wordsworth can recall with good memory the host of daffodils. I found it interesting that Wordsworth has use many clever little connotations all the way through the poem. A "host" is the communion Catholics take at church, and in his belief, Wordsworth is comparing religion to the majesty of the Daffoldils. His personification of the flowers is also an attempt to show the relationship between humans and God, in that God inhabits the flowers, so us being near to the flowers is like us being near to God. This is apparent throughout the whole of his poem. This site was really helpful for my own research, so I just thought I'd add to it. Good luck all!
I love this poem...I think what this poem expresses is this: Sometimes we have a moment where we think "oh how nice..." But no more than that. We don't understand which moments imprint themselves on our soul until one day, we close our eyes when we are feeling down, and we want a happy thought, and suddenly the perfection of that one moment comes back to us. Our subconscience recognized it for what it was, but our…
Read the whole commentI love this poem...I think what this poem expresses is this: Sometimes we have a moment where we think "oh how nice..." But no more than that. We don't understand which moments imprint themselves on our soul until one day, we close our eyes when we are feeling down, and we want a happy thought, and suddenly the perfection of that one moment comes back to us. Our subconscience recognized it for what it was, but our busy minds blinded us from seeing it until we were in a state where our soul longs for beauty or quiet or solitude, to simply be. I don't think his loneliness makes him sad. The cloud isn't sad as it wanders, it simply is. That's how he longs to be. I think he is describing a moment of perfect humanity or being. A moment where you seem very close to God and knowing the answers to life. They only happen a few times in your life and you rarely recognize them until they are already past.
I think this poem can be anything the reader wants it to be. There's no right or wrong. I have to write an essay on this poem and I'm having such a hard time simply because there's so many ways the poem can be interpreted. I had to narrow it down to just one theme which seems almost impossible, but i chose that it was about how the author found so much pleasure in such a simple thing. In my opinion, today we miss so many beautiful moments and sometimes we just need to relax and enjoy the small pleasures nature hands to us, just like Wordsworth did in this poem.
I think that the line "lonely as a cloud" is misleading. I think the line does not refer to the state of being lonely but rather a state of solitude. He was alone, but not necessarily lonely. at least thats my take on it...
i think this poem is about somebody who was alone and might be sad ,but when he saw the daffodils he was impressed by their beauty ,then he tried to tell us the emotions that those flowers created in him,everytime we are lonely or sad we find that the beauty of nature shares our feelings.
I loved this poem, I adore daffodils, I needed to write a paper and didn't believe I found the depth and understanding. All I got out of this poem was the appreication of nature and the joy of the dancing flowers. And the connection of nature to God, and in times of "blissful solitude" I imagine the beauty and happy places I've been to. I suppose I was correct..
i believe this poem is beatiful because i get to understand that william is a lover of nature and he loves to escape in a fantasy world where he is in control of that world.
Just a thought when skimming over this poem. Whenever Wordsworth talks about being happy and being wild he loses iambic pentameter. For example in lines 6, 11, and 12 are not iambic pentameter yet they are all showing happiness and wildness. Also my take on the poem is that he is saying daffodils and beauty in everyday life simply exists, they don't need an excuse for being there.
In this poem wordsworth is describing the process of creativity which has been mentioned in his preface to the second edition of the lyrical ballads which is how the poet write poetry:in it the poet pass an experience and it stored in his mind then it recollected and become apart of his mind and then the emotion contemplated and after that the mood of trinquility began to disappear and the poet start to be active
I`m a fresh man in this field ,I like this poem,but I don`t konw how to impress myself ,so just like.AHhhh
P.S.There is no China
My take was that theguy is lonely in the beginning and then becomes happy at the end. He could not be lonely because he had a crowd a dancing people in the wind.
What a fantastic piece of poetry it is...! Indeed its a great poem,and undoubtedly Wordsworth is very rightly the poet of nature. Such scenes often pass through our eyes but most remain unnoticed,only nature-lovers can feel this way,a great tribute to natural scenery. I read this poem in my 10th class but today after completing my engineering,was forced from inside to read it again,and here i am.
I am also doinga paper that needs to analyze about this poem. I read these comments and it really helped a lot.
this poem is surely one of his greatest!
but i thought the title was suppose to be 'Daffodils'
instead.
its one of his great pomes (as i think) but the title very big and large>
thsi poem highlighst the perplex ideas of natural beauty. wordsworth present nature as rich, warm and valuable. he compares it to many fenominal beatous forms and presents it as a spiritual nurtinment when in time sof opression, when the urban soul is fed on rotten industrial and capatilistic ideas.
it is one of the most simple of the lyric ballad poems by william wordsworth and entails the gentle yet bonding harmony between man and nature. in my opinion this poem climaxes with the first sentence as the reverse personification acts a catalyst for the urgency of sentiments felt in the poem.
On first reading, I found this poem to be too childish, simple and generally dull. Now , however, Wordsworth's delight on seeing the thousands of golden daffodils lined along the shore of the bay resonates within. His hanuting imagery in describing his return from melancholy into the brightness of day is stupefying. I love this poem.
i relly love this poem and nobody knows what this poem means to me and thanks for this lovly poemn
i am in love with this poem......eversince i read it in my childhood days.....it surely is his masterpiece..
the poem is a masterpiece.It simple at the surface but it gives a deeper meaning.
I like this poem because anyone can relate to this poem. sometimes people wants to be alone when they have their own problems. but in the end, you'll forget the problems and have to accept the way things are.
I dont like this poem!!