The purpose of this essay is to compare and contrast two poems with similar names, but very different content, tone, stylistic features and didactic message. The first poem is William Wordsworth’s “The Daffodils” written in 1804. The second poem is “To Daffodils” written by Robert Herrick in 1675. Both poems are about the comparison between man and nature, in this case, it’s the daffodils, but the poems are written in a different way. The poems are very different in terms of the way daffodils affect the writer’s state of mind. The poems have contrasting content and theme. Wordsworth’s poem tells a story about a lonely man walking, when he saw a field full of daffodils and he became happy and overjoyed. Robert Herrick’s poem takes a …show more content…
There are various different stylistic features on the two poems. Both poems used simile, personification, hyperbole and enjambment. Both authors make use of similes in their poems, which strengthen the visual image of the poem. An example to this is in Wordsworth’s poem “I wandered lonely as a cloud”. The use of simile in that sentence enhances the image, and makes the reader visualize his state of mind. Another example would be in Herrick’s poem “Like to the summer’s rain; or “as the pearls of morning’s dew,” emphasizing the dark journey of his soul. Personification plays a big part in both poems, and Wordsworth and Herrick uses the personification of daffodils extensively. However, the two make use of personification in a different way. William Wordsworth’s poem personifies the daffodils on the poem as a merry and beautiful dancer. This adds to the joyfulness and projects an even more vivid image to a poem already full of life and beautiful imagery. Wordsworth use words like “Fluttering and dancing in the breeze”, and “Ten thousand saw I at a glance, tossing their heads in a sprightly dance”. While Wordsworth’s ‘The Daffodils’ used personification to give the poem ‘life’, Robert Herrick did quite the opposite to his poem. In ‘To Daffodils’, Herrick makes use of personification so he could personify the daffodils as if it is dying person. The personification of the daffodil solidifies the theme and content of the poem, which was
In Wordsworth's poem, he used syntax and diction to show how the flowers changed his once depressed lonely mood to positive and grateful. While in Muir's essay, he also uses diction to tell his story of finding calypso and his overwhelming sense of happiness when he finally sat by the beautiful flower.
While both poets Muir and Wordsworth wrote about the happy feelings that they have towards nature the beautiful outdoors or what some people may say Mother Nature, some of which the feelings are the same and some that are different as they speak of the different plants.
Each of the poems relies heavily on imagery to convey their respective messages. Often throughout each of the poems, the imagery is that of people. However, each uses similar imagery to very different, yet effective ways to explore the same
“Mother to Son” develops a sense of happiness and determination. As Hughes explains that the mother endures trials and tribulations throughout the poem, we find that she continues to persevere, setting a wonderful example for her son. In contrast, “I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud” uses a tone which is somewhat different to “Mother to Son.” Wordsworth takes a different approach in showing an individual’s feelings. Wordsworth’s character feels lonely and depressed. Suddenly, the tone changes to a more joyful and appreciative tone when he stumbles upon a field of daffodils. Clearly, the tones of each poem differ and resemble each other at the same
Wordsworth demonstrates his use of tone and syntax in the following stanza, “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 a sprightly dance.” The tone of the stanza is joyful because he is happy when he talks about how beautiful the daffodils are. This shows how his relationship with nature is positive since he is happy when watching the daffodils. Wordsworth uses traditional syntax in this stanza. He uses several phrases divided by commas to describe the daffodils and their movements. This gives the stanza a playful pace which again expresses that his relationship with nature is happy and
In this piece of writing I will be comparing and contrasting 3 poems. Which are ‘Praise Song for my mother’, ‘Harmonium’ and ‘Nettles.
There are lots of things in the poems that are similar and different both of the writers are different and similar in many ways .In the poem’s “When You Are Old” By W.B Yeats, and “Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night” By Dylan Thomas.They have a bunch of similarities and differences.For example in each of the poems the theme of the poems are death and the narrator’s message in the rhyming pattern poems are both similar in the poems ,and the writing style of the poems are rhyme schemes and therefore they use different rhyme scheme in each of the poems.
Through some of his toughest times he was out there seeking adventure. “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.” Before Wordsworth saw the field of daffodils he was lonely and depressed. But with the beauty of nature it helped to transform his mood for the better. “For oft, when on my couch I lie in vacant or in pensive mood, they flash upon my inward eye.” “And then my heart with pleasure fills, and dances with the daffodils.” Furthermore, When Wordsworth is alone lying on his sofa, a feeling of bored and sadness rush over him. But when the daffodils come to his mind he is able to imagine his adventure with them, and that brings him joy and happiness.
Both the poems have the theme of love, written from a man’s point of view, and explores the way men treat woman in relationships. The former does this by a male narrator writing a poem to a female, using imagery to entice her. The latter by using a duke, explaining the story of what happened to his previous wife whilst looking at her picture. Both the poems use imagery and other poetic devices but in different ways. The first uses them more often to impress her. The second uses them in a
Wordsworth says that, wandering like a cloud floating above the hill and valleys, he encountered a field of daffodils beside a lake, in the poem. “I wandered lonely as a cloud” A poet could not help but to be happy in such a joyful company of flowers. William stared and watched but did not realize what wealth the scene would bring him. Whenever he feels “vacant” or “pensive” the picture would flash upon “that inward eye / That is the bliss of solitude. : and his heart fills with pleasure, “and dances with the daffodils.” (Wordsworth, I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud). Wordsworth also created songs of innocence such as “Daffodils Song”. The Romantic poets, predominantly Wordsworth and Blake were spellbound by the natural world. The author used pastoral landscapes to evoke joy, to create peaceful scenes that were only darkened by the threat of urbanization and the Industrial Revolution. (William Wordsworth: Artistic Reaction to the Industrial Revolution, Fed 14, 2000)
Wordsworth’s famous and simple poem, “I wandered lonely as a cloud,” expresses the Romantic Age’s appreciation for the beauty and truth that can be found in a setting as ordinary as a field of daffodils. With this final stanza, Wordsworth writes of the mind’s ability to carry those memories of nature’s beauty into any setting, whether city or country. His belief in the power of the imagination and the effect it can have on nature, and vice a versa, is evident in most of his work. This
Throughout “I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud” William Wordsworth shows his relationship with nature through his choice of diction, fantastic descriptions, and shifting mood of his poem. There are also many words and phrases that Wordsworth included into his poem that shows how he feels about nature. These phrases are well written, extremely descriptive, and show how Wordsworth is influenced by the wild: “I wandered lonely as a cloud”, “When all at once I saw a crowd, a host, of golden daffodils", “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”, “I gazed—and gazed—but little thought what wealth the show to me had brought”, and “For oft, when on my couch I lie in vacant or in pensive mood, they flash upon that inward eye [...] and then my heart with pleasure fills, and dances with the daffodils.” Another phrase, which indicates that the flowers were so beautiful that no true poet could be sad in their presence, also builds upon Wordsworth’s relationship with nature. These particular lines in “I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud” show how Wordsworth’s mood shifts from somber and lonely to joyous and content. The lines also show how the gorgeousness of nature sticks with
There are similarities in these two poems such as the theme and the observentness of the narrator. Both of the poems themes involve death. In ?I heard a Fly buzz when I died?, the poet writes, ? And then the Windows failed ? and then I could not see to see- ", which means that the narrator?s eyes would not open no more; they had died. In ?Because I could not stop for Death? it shows the theme
By analysing the structure (shift from external to internal landscape), language (tenses, pronoun), and presentation of the experience of seeing the daffodils, I seek to demonstrate that feelings of the sublime are only evoked when the narrator’s imagination participates in the scene he has internalized in his memory. While the first three stanzas exemplify a merely physical stimulus and response mechanism to nature, the last stanza shows how active poetic imagination enables man to recreate and amplify emotions encountered, thus resulting in feelings of the sublime. Why does the observer not recognise the ‘wealth’ the scene brings in that moment? How does poetic imagination connect the physical eye and the inner eye to allow for sublime, transcendental experience? Hess argues that the poem “depend[s] for [its] power on the narrator’s ability to fix a single, discrete, visually defined moment of experience in his mind, to which he can later return in acts of private memory and imagination” (298). An example of the recapturing of emotions is seen where “gay” (I. 15) is recaptured as “pleasure” (I. 23) at the end. Active imagination, which draws inspiration from memory of the initial encounter, is now a permanent possession that
Wordsworth takes readers on a reminiscent journey in "I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud" reflecting upon visions of nature. The figurative language and diction used elucidate the poet's response to nature. Wordsworth uses each stanza to share his experience in nature through the image of a dance that culminates in the poet's emotional response.