Daffodils

 

"Daffodils" (1804)

 I wander’d 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 stretch'd 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 waves in glee:
A poet could not but be 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

William Wordsworth

William Wordsworth is the founder of the Romantic Movement of English literature.  He is one of the most remarkable English Poet.   He is known as Lakeland Poet because he lived in that area.  This place is full of beautiful landscapes, green pastures and numerous lakes.  He is called as nature poet.  For he focusses the relationship between the nature and the humans.  He became the Poet Laureate of England in 1843.

The Solitary Reaper was written on 5^th November 1805 and published in 1807 in the collection Poems.  As his works were based on experiences, “Solitary Reaper” too was based on his experiences on observing someone else.

He was a great poet and Poet Laureate from 1843 until his death from Pleurisy on 23 April 1850.

 The summary of the poem

 It’s a beautiful description of golden daffodils.  The poet enjoys the beauty of the golden daffodils which are growing close to the lake and under the trees. The breeze making the daffodils to dance and flutter the flowers. The daffodils shine like stars and twinkle in the milk-way. They are huge in quantity.  They dance happily.  This nature give everlasting joy to the poet.  He thinks of the beautiful nature when he is busy and tired lying on the couch, he feels fresh and pleasant recollect those beautiful memories.

Detail analysis

Stanza 1

“I wander’d 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.”

 In the first stanza the poet describes the feeling of enjoying the nature.  He wanders alone like as clouds which floats over the valleys and hills.  Suddenly he sees a large number of beautiful daffodils close to the lake under the trees fluttering and dancing due to the soft wind blowing.

 Stanza 2

 “Continuous as the stars that shine
And twinkle on the Milky Way,
They stretch'd in never-ending line
Along the margin of a bay:
Ten thousand saw I at a glance,
Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.”

 The poet see the huge crowd of daffodils as the stars shine and twinkle on the Milky Way.  They stand in a never ending line along the margin of a bay.  They grow in a vast area.  They are huge in quantity.  The poet could see ten thousand at one glance.  They move their heads in a dancing movement due to wind.

 Stanza 3 

“The waves beside them danced; but they
Out-did the sparkling waves in glee:
A poet could not but be gay,
In such a jocund company:
I gazed -- and gazed -- but little thought
What wealth the show to me had brought:”

 The waves in the lake beside the daffodils are happily dancing with the wind as their companion.  But they are not beautiful as daffodils.  The poet is very happy to see this beauty of nature. He enjoys the company of nature.  He keeps looking at the dancing beauties. He could not take his eyes from such a pretty scene.  He values the gift of nature.

 Stanza 4

 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.

 When the poet lies down on his couch especially when he is alone, the dancing daffodils flash before him.  The beautiful dancing images of daffodils come before him and give a joyful effect on the poet.  These images fill the empty heart of the poet with pleasure and enthusiasm.  He too feels like dancing with the daffodils.  He enjoys his imagination and forgets his loneliness.

 Poetical devices

 In the poem he has used his love for nature in the form of simile, alliteration and hyperbole etc.  They add beauty and magical effect to the poem.

 Simile

It is a figure of speech which makes comparison with two different things using as or like

“I wandered lonely as a cloud”

The poet compares himself to the cloud to express how he is free to enjoy the nature.

“Continuous as the stars that shine… margin of a bay”

Here the poet makes a beautiful comparison of the flowers to the shining stars on the Milky Way.

Alliteration

It is a figure of speech. Similar consonant sound together to emphasize the words.

 Beside the lake, beneath the trees.

Dances with the daffodils.

The repetition of D and B give an effect.

 Hyperbole

Using exaggeration to make it effective.

“When all at once I saw a crowd”

“Ten thousand saw I at a glance”

The poet uses crowd and ten thousand to bring out the huge amount of the daffodils.  He without an exact calculation using an exaggeration statement to make it beautiful.

“They stretched in never-ending line”

The flowers are standing in a never ending row.  Here too one can suggest that there is end for everything.  But the poet makes it beautiful by saying never –ending row.

Personification

Comparing Human feelings to an inhuman or inanimate objects.

“Fluttering and dancing in the breeze”

“Tossing their head in a sprightly dance”

“Out-did the sparkling waves in glee”

All have been personified to the flowers and their beautiful movement in wind. Dance is a live movement. Even the crowd and host are human and personified the daffodils.

“What wealth the show to me had brought”

Here the wealth is a metaphor which brings out the meaning of happiness.  The memory of the daffodils is a blessing as it gives a happiness to the poet.

Theme of the poem is love towards nature and the peace and pleasant memories it could bring to one’s soul.

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