I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud

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"I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud" is an 1804 poem by William Wordsworth. It was inspired by an April 15, 1802 event in which Wordsworth and his sister, Dorothy came across a "long belt" of daffodils. It was first published in 1807, and a revised version was released in 1815. In anthologies the poem is sometimes titled "The Daffodils".

Summary

In this poem, the poet recounts his tale of chancing upon a long belt of daffodils. He is struck speechless by their sheer number and beauty. He says that they seem to be as numerous as the stars that shine in the sky. He also remarks on the beauty of the waves dancing next to them, though they are overshadowed by the daffodils.

The effect that the daffodils had on the poet is similar to the effect of the maiden's song in "The Solitary Reaper" (another Wordswoth poem). Both are etched into his memory and soul to cherish forever.

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 plot is extremely simple, depicting the poet's wandering and his discovery of a field of daffodils by a lake, the memory of which pleases him and comforts him when he is lonely, bored, or restless. The characterization of the sudden occurrence of a memory--the daffodils "flash upon the inward eye / Which is the bliss of solitude"--is psychologically acute, but the poem's main brilliance lies in the reverse personification of its early stanzas. The speaker is metaphorically compared to a natural object, a cloud--"I wandered lonely as a cloud / That floats on high...", and the daffodils are continually personified as human beings, dancing and "tossing their heads" in "a crowd, a host." This technique implies an inherent unity between man and nature, making it one of Wordsworth's most basic and effective methods for instilling in the reader the feeling the poet so often describes himself as experiencing.

External links

[The Wordsworth Trust]

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