The Daffodils(I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud)

William Wordsworth

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The Daffodils(I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud)

William Wordsworth

What's included:

● Text of The Daffodils

● Poem background

● Author information

● Worksheet – Poem Format (and Teacher Key)

● Worksheet – Poetic Devices (and Teacher Key)

● Worksheet – Poem Content (and Teacher Key)

● Worksheet – Reader Response

● Poetry Form Primer

● Literary Devices Primer

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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.

Continuous as the stars that shine

And twinkle on the Milky Way,

They stretched 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.

Poem Background

In the spring of 1802, the English

poet William Wordsworth and his

sister Dorothy came across a line

of daffodils on the shore of a bay in

England's Lake District. Dorothy

wrote in her journal that, “I never

saw daffodils so beautiful... they

looked so gay ever dancing ever

changing.”

Inspired, Wordsworth composed

the poem, which tells how the

memory of the daffodils evoke

feelings of happiness long after the

encounter.

The Daffodils(I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud)

William Wordsworth, 1770 - 1850

WHO HE WAS: William Wordsworth was a major English Romantic

poet who, with Samuel Taylor Coleridge, helped to launch the

Romantic Age in English literature with their joint publication Lyrical

Ballads.

Born: April 7, 1770 · Cockermouth, England

Died: April 23, 1850 · Cumberland, England

William Wordsworth

WHY HE IS IMPORTANT: He broke the rules of classic poetry. Before Wordsworth and the other

Romantic poets, poetry adhered to a strict format of mechanical rules. Poets wrote about artificial

subjects (not imaginative or expressive), often Ancient Greece and Rome.

The Romantics wrote about everyday things like nature and people. They believed in the

importance of emotions and individualism. The critics hated them!

LIFE IN BRIEF: Unlike many

Romantic poets, William

Wordsworth led a normal, non-

tragic life. He was the second of

five children and grew up in

England's Lake District. He

published his first sonnet in 1787.

In 1795 he met Samuel Taylor

Coleridge. The two poets

published Lyrical Ballads and

launched the Romantic

movement. This included Wordsworth's famous poem Tintern Abbey.

Wordsworth married his childhood friend Mary Hutchinson in 1802. His sister Dorothy lived with

them. The couple had five children. Wordsworth died from pleurisy in April 1850. After his death,

Mary published his poem The Prelude, which became recognized as his masterpiece.

Number of stanzas/verses: Number of lines per stanza:

Rhyme scheme:

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.

Poem FormatWrite down the rhyme scheme and number of syllables for each line of the first stanza. You can

also compare these to the other stanzas.

Imagery

Below, record imagery from the poem.

Poetic DevicesVocabulary

vales:

jocund:

pensive:

Dress-Up Devices (Simile, Metaphor & Hyperbole)

Bend-Your-Ear Devices (Alliteration, Assonance, Consonance, Onomatopoeia)

Advanced Devices (Personification, Allusion, Allegory)

Poem ContentPrimary Questions

Who is the narrator?

What is the subject of the poem?

Describe what happens in the poem.

Going Deeper

What is the narrator's mood or state of mind?

What is the tone of the poem?

Line-by-Line

What does the narrator compare himself to in the first line?

What words tell you that the narrator associates happy memories with the daffodils?

What causes the narrator's heart to dance with the daffodils in the final line?

Reader Response1. Describe a time that you have flashed upon that inward eye. In other words, describe a time

that a memory has impacted your mood.

2. Choose a flower and write a sentence (or two) describing it using poetic devices. For example:

Ruby red roses smell as refreshing as rain. (alliteration and simile)

Rhyme scheme

The rhyme scheme is the pattern of rhymes at the end of each line of a poem or song.

To figure out a rhyme scheme, use an A to represent the last word of the first line. If the last

word of the second line rhymes with the “A” word, it also gets an A. If not, it gets a B. Continue

down the poem, checking all the last words for rhyming with the words before them. Every new

rhyme gets a new letter.

EXAMPLES:

The large cat A

Hissed in fear B

At the rat A

And the deer. B

Rhyme scheme: ABAB

Poetry Form Primer

I took a ride A

Down the slide. A

Then took a drink B

From the sink. B

Never knowing C

It was snowing! C

Rhyme scheme: AABBCC

Basics

Stanza: an arrangement of a certain number of lines, usually four or more, sometimes having a

fixed length, meter, or rhyme scheme, forming a division of a poem.

Imagery & Tone

Imagery is descriptive language that draws upon what we see, hear, smell, taste, and

touch/feel.

my grandmother's gooey chocolate cake... the soft breeze cooled my burning cheeks...

the birds squawked and cawed in anger at the predator...

Tone: the attitude of a poem implied by style.

Literary Devices PrimerBend-Your-Ear Devices

Alliteration: The use of the same beginning

consonant sound in a phrase.

Peter Piper picked a pack of pickled peppers.

Friendly frogs feast on French fries.

Consonance: The repetition of consonant

sounds in the beginning, middle, or ends of

words in a phrase.

Pack that locket in your sack.

Molly pulls out a tall lollipop.

Assonance: The repetition of vowel sounds in

the beginning, middle, or ends of words in a

phrase.

I sweep the deep street.

Onomatopoeia: the formation of a word from a

sound associated with what is named.

buzz, pop, beep-beep, moo, quack,

sizzle, creak, whoosh

Dress-Up Devices

Simile: Uses like or as to compare two things

He runs as fast as lightning.

Metaphor: A comparison of two unlike things; does NOT use like or as

She is a shining star.

Hyperbole: a great exaggeration

This bag weighs a ton!

I'm so hungry I could eat a horse.

Advanced Devices

Personification: the attribution of a personal

nature or human characteristics to something

nonhuman, or the representation of an

abstract quality in human form.

The sun smiled down on us.

The flowers danced in the breeze.

Allusion: an expression designed to call

something to mind without mentioning it

explicitly; an indirect or passing reference.

He's an Einstein. This place is like

Eden. The general met his Waterloo. He

turned into a pillar of salt. It's a Catch-22.

Allegory: a story, poem, or picture that can

be interpreted to reveal a hidden meaning,

typically a moral or political one. Many fairy

tales are allegories.

Number of stanzas/verses: 4 Number of lines per stanza: 6

Rhyme scheme: ABABCC

I wandered lonely as a cloud A, 8

That floats on high o’er vales and hills, B, 8

When all at once I saw a crowd, A, 8

A host, of golden daffodils; B, 8

Beside the lake, beneath the trees, C, 8

Fluttering and dancing in the breeze. C, 9

Poem Format – Teacher KeyWrite down the rhyme scheme and number of syllables for each line of the first stanza. You can

also compare these to the other stanzas.

Imagery

Below, record imagery from the poem.

Golden daffodils

Fluttering and dancing in the breeze

Stars that shine and twinkle

Ten thousand saw I

The waves... danced, sparkling waves

Poetic Devices – Teacher KeyVocabulary

vales: (noun), poetic name for a valley

jocund: (adj), cheerful and lighthearted

pensive: (adj), involving deep and reflective thought

Dress-Up Devices (Simile, Metaphor & Hyperbole)

Hyperbole: Ten thousand saw I at a glance

Simile: I wandered lonely as a cloud, continuous as the stars that shine

Bend-Your-Ear Devices (Alliteration, Assonance, Consonance, Onomatopoeia)

Alliteration: beside the lake, beneath the trees, gazed and gazed, dances with the

daffodils

Advanced Devices (Personification, Allusion, Allegory)

Personification: golden daffodils... fluttering and dancing in the breeze, tossing their

heads in sprightly dance, The waves beside them danced, my heart... dances with

the daffodils

Allusion: Milky Way

Poem Content – Teacher KeyPrimary Questions

Who is the narrator? The narrator is William Wordsworth, the author of the poem.

What is the subject of the poem?The subject is the daffodils spotted by Wordsworth on a walk

Describe what happens in the poem.

The narrator recalls a scene of daffodils and recounts how, long after his walk has finished,

the memory of the daffodils brings him pleasure.

Going Deeper

What is the narrator's mood or state of mind?

The narrator is happy when he recalls the sight of the daffodils.

What is the tone of the poem?

The tone of the poem at first is wistful as the author remembers the daffodils. By the last

stanza it is joyful as he tells how he flashes upon that “inward eye” and recalls the joy of the

memory.

Line-by-Line

What does the narrator compare himself to in the first line? He compares himself to a cloud.

What words tell you that the narrator associates happy memories with the daffodils? Golden,

dancing, sprightly dance, gay, jocund company, pleasure, bliss of solitude

What causes the narrator's heart to dance with the daffodils in the final line? The memory fills his

heart with pleasure.