“I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud”William Wordsworth

By: Dominic Piedmont

Background on Wordsworth

Born in 1770, and wrote the poem in 1804

Mother died when he was 8 and father died later

Attended Hawkshead Grammar School

Two children died young, third died later in life

Credited with starting Romantic Period

Close to his sister

ExplicationWho is the speaker ?

What era was it written in?

Themes of the poem.

Personal Interpretation

Simple pleasures “And [my heart] dances with the

daffodils” “A poet could not but be gay”

Rebirth and Hope Daffodils representative of this

Depression “I wandered lonely as a cloud” “In vacant or in pensive mood”

Literary Terms: 1st stanza

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.

Literary Terms: 1st stanza

I wandered lonely as a cloud simile

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.

Literary Terms: 1st stanza I wandered lonely as a cloud

simile 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. End stopped line

Literary Terms: 1st stanza I wandered lonely as a cloud

simile 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. End stopped line

Enjambment

Literary Terms: 1st stanza I wandered lonely as a cloud

simile 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. End stopped line

Enjambment

Personification

Literary Terms: 2nd 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. End Stopped Line

Literary Terms: 2nd 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. End Stopped Line

Couplet

Literary Terms: 2nd 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. End Stopped Line

Couplet

Enjambment

Literary Terms: 2nd 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. End Stopped Line

Couplet

Enjambment

Literary Terms: 3rd Stanza 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:

Literary Terms: 3rd Stanza 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:

Caesura

Literary Terms: 3rd Stanza 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:

Caesura

Personification

Literary Terms: 4th Stanza

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. 

Literary Terms: 4th Stanza

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

Critical analysis

 “ “I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud" dramatizes an experience of the sublime” (Brennan).

“… the flowers simply bring psychological ease: The lonely poet sees the "jocund company" and becomes happy” (Joplin).

 “… the event moves through a transposition into a spiritual experience. For one thing, the intent gazing signals a meditative moment akin to spiritual activity: As he drinks in nature's beauty; the poet attains an elevated state of mind” (Joplin).

“Wordsworth was known to have suffered a sudden and deep depression” (Liu).

Work Cited

Google Images Brennan, Matthew C. "Wordsworth's I Wandered Lonely

as A Cloud." The Explicator 57.3 (1999): 140-3. ProQuest. Web. 28 Apr. 2013.

Joplin, David. "Wordsworth's I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud." The Explicator 56.2 (1998): 67-70. ProQuest. Web. 28 Apr. 2013.

Liu, Yu. "Crisis and Recovery: The Wordsworthian Poetics and Politics." Papers on Language & Literature 39.1 (2000): 19+. Literature Resources. Web. 28 Apr. 2013.

Rose, Phyllis. "Dances with Daffodils." The Atlantic Monthly 2002: 49-51. ProQuest. Web. 28 Apr. 2013 .

"William Wordsworth." - Poets.org. N.p., n.d. Web. 29 Apr. 2013. <http://www.poets.org/poet.php/prmPID/296>.