William Wordsworth“I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud”

“Composed Upon Westminster Bridge”

A Romantic Poet

Sammi Garrity and Jackie Edwards

- literary career began with Descriptive Sketches in 1793.

- 1797-1798 - met Samuel Taylor Coleridge daily to talk about poetry and to plan Lyrical Ballads, which came out in 1798 and was an early climax in his career.

- powers peaked with Poems in Two Volumes (1807), and his reputation continued to grow; even his harshest reviewers recognized his popularity and the originality.

- when Robert Southey died in 1843, he was named Poet Laureate. He later died in 1850.

What are the things that make you feel the happiest... the things that have the power to turn your

worst day into your best?

While reading “I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud” think about what Wordsworth’s

escape might be?

?

I wandered lonely as a cloudThat 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 shineAnd twinkle on the milky way,

They stretched in never-ending lineAlong the margin of a bay:

Ten thousand saw I at a glance,Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.

The waves beside them danced; but theyOut-did the sparkling waves in glee:

A poet could not but be gay,In such a jocund company:

I gazed---and gazed---but little thoughtWhat wealth the show to me had brought:

For oft, when on my couch I lieIn vacant or in pensive mood,

They flash upon that inward eyeWhich is the bliss of solitude;

And then my heart with pleasure fills,And dances with the daffodils.

I wandered lonely as a cloudThat 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.

- While wandering like a cloud, the speaker comes upon a field of daffodils fluttering in a breeze on the shore of a lake, beneath trees.

Continuous as the stars that shineAnd twinkle on the milky way,

They stretched in never-ending lineAlong the margin of a bay:

Ten thousand saw I at a glance,Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.

- The daffodils stretch all along the shore. Because there are so many of them, they remind the speaker of the Milky Way. The speaker humanizes the daffodils when he says they are engaging in a dance. 

The waves beside them danced; but theyOut-did the sparkling waves in glee:

A poet could not but be gay,In such a jocund company:

I gazed---and gazed---but little thoughtWhat wealth the show to me had brought:

- 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.

For oft, when on my couch I lieIn vacant or in pensive mood,

They flash upon that inward eyeWhich is the bliss of solitude;

And then my heart with pleasure fills,And dances with the daffodils.

- Not until the poet later muses about what he saw does he fully appreciate the cheerful sight of the dancing daffodils. 

- The four six-line stanzas of this poem follow a quatrain-couplet rhyme scheme: ABABCC. - Each line is metered in iambic tetrameter.

I wandered lonely as a cloudThat 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.

Example:

- a figure of speech comparing two unlike things, often introduced with the word "like" or "as". - I wandered lonely as a cloud (first line)- Continuous as the stars that shine / And twinkle on the milky way…

(the whole second stanza)Continuous as the stars that shineAnd twinkle on the milky way,They stretched in never-ending lineAlong the margin of a bay:Ten thousand saw I at a glance,Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.

Similes

2nd Technique:- A state of mind or emotion; pervading impression of an observer

- He starts off sad and lonely- “I wandered lonely as a cloud…”

- By the end of the poem he is on his couch and even though he is still alone, through nature and his imagination, he finds pleasure and becomes happier

For oft, when on my couch I lieIn vacant or in pensive mood,They flash upon that inward eyeWhich is the bliss of solitude;And then my heart with pleasure fills,And dances with the daffodils.

Mood

Similes:-This technique implies a natural unity between man and nature in the poem.- Emphasizes poet’s love of nature.

Mood:- Again, it emphasizes the poet’s love of nature and reinforces the fact that he believes nature cures all.

(of techniques)

It is evident after reading “I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud”…Wordsworth’s escape is

http://it.truveo.com/Sound-of-Music-The-Hills-Are-Alive/id/261808563

Nature.

1) What kind of flowers does Wordsworth speak of in “I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud”?

2) What was Wordsworth’s mood at the beginning of the poem vs. the end?

3) What causes Wordsworth’s change in moods?

The End