I Wandered Lonely As A Cloud by William Wordsworth
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 really found this poem to be very relaxing. I think the rhythm is great and the use of personification is nice too. The poem gives you a great visual of an experience the speaker had. The speaker talks about being alone and taking in this beautiful sight of swaying daffodils, all in massive rows like the stars at night. He or she goes on about them beside the ocean and the sound of the waves, however he or she describes this scene so beautifully. The speaker then goes on to say how the moment he had steals him away while he is alone on the couch. In the last lines the speaker says “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.“ This describes how he goes back to the scene. I love the ending. It gives me a feeling that his experience is not only soothing but rhythmic as well. Maybe its just the use of the word dance that associates me to rhythm.
I think the point of this poem is how the simplest things in life can take us back. I also think its important to have this happen to us in life. Sometimes its nice to stop and watch things around us happen and find the beauty in them. It is also nice to have something in our minds we can always go back to when we need a little vacation. I think this is what the poet was trying to express in this poem.
My favorite lines are “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.” To m these lines give me a great visual of how many daffodils and also how they are swaying in the breeze. The poet did a wonderful job throughout the poem of describing the scene but I like how he uses stars and the milky way to describe the flowers.
