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Name: Manuel, Jesullyna C. Date: October 17, 2009Subject: Introduction to Stylistics OP # 5

SECTOR ANALYSIS OF THE POEM I WANDERED LONELY AS A CLOUD BY WILLIAM WORDSWORTH

William Wordsworth’s I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud is a lyric

poem focusing on the poet’s response to the beauty of nature. A lyric poem

presents the deep feelings and emotions of the author rather than telling a

story or presenting a witty observation. The final version of the poem

contains four stanzas of six lines each. In each stanza, the first line rhymes

with the third and the second with the fourth. The stanza then ends with a

rhyming couplet.  Wordsworth unifies the content of the poem by focusing

the first three stanzas on the experience at the lake and the last stanza on

the memory of that experience. This simple poem recounts the experience of

the author when he was wandering like a cloud; he saw daffodils fluttering in

the breeze on the shore of a lake, beneath the trees. The daffodils stretch all

along the shore. Because there are so many of them, they remind the

speaker of the Milky Way, the galaxy that scientists say contains about one

trillion stars, including the sun. The speaker humanizes the daffodils when he

says they are engaging in a dance. In their gleeful fluttering and dancing, the

daffodils outdo the rippling waves of the lake. But the poet does not at this

moment fully appreciate the happy sight before him. .Not until the poet later

Sector Analysis of I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud by William Wordsworth

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muses about what he saw does he fully appreciate the cheerful sight of the

dancing daffodils. 

Applying sector analysis in the poem, it is observable that

William Wordsworth uses a complete sentence with subject and predicate.

There are six sentences Unit and Trunk in the entire poem. The title of the

poem itself is in a complete sentence. Aside from using complete sentences,

the author also makes a vivid description of the daffodils by using several

predicate to describe the scenery. The use of a clause gives continuity in the

poem, which makes it look like it was a narrative. The predominance of

major sentences in Wordsworth’s poem gives a clear impression that he

wants to capture the interest of the reader by using the language of a

common man. Wordsworth likes to begin each stanza by using a complete

sentence and he expands it by using elaborate predicates and clauses. A

typical line in Wordsworth’s poetry is heavy with adjectives, complements

and predicates that vividly describes the poet’s sentiments and his

appreciation of nature. In rhetorical style, Wordsworth’s poem is about

nature’s beauty that uplift’s human spirit. As it is emphasizes in the poem,

people sometimes fail to appreciate nature’s wonder as they go in their daily

routine. In the poem, I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud, the daffodils become

much more than mere flowers.  They are a symbol of natural beauty and,

more importantly, symbolize living a life as rich in experience and sensation

as would make a life worth living.  They represent, in their light-hearted

Sector Analysis of I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud by William Wordsworth

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dance, the joy and happiness of living an adoring and fulfilling life,

embracing it for every drop of nectar it could so bring.  Romanticism, a

poetic philosophy that Wordsworth himself engendered, finds much virtue in

this meaning; the daffodils reaching out and catching the eye of

Wordsworth’s narrator, or perhaps Wordsworth himself, and inspiring him so

much emotionally, that he was left with little choice than to express them

poetically. Wordsworth is known to be a Romantic poet so his common

themes are appreciation of nature and seeing the beauty in the world.

Sector Analysis of I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud by William Wordsworth