preview

Critical Analysis Of Wordsworth's I Wandered Lonely As A Cloud

Decent Essays

“Critical theory”, in terms of literature, can be defined as a form of criticism through the close reading of a text and the application of knowledge acquired from the study of the humanities. The “multiple readings” mentioned in the question refers to the different schools of literary criticism – for example, structuralism, feminist theory, new historicism/cultural materialism, ecocriticism and postcolonial criticism. It is true to say that Wordsworth’s “I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud” can be read and interpreted in many different ways, especially when both the original and revised versions of the poem are taken into account. In my opinion, the most interesting criticism that can be applied to this poem is structuralism, which I will be analysing …show more content…

org/wp-content/death_authorbarthes.pdf Web. (Accessed: 18 November 2015) the death of the author is the birth of the reader, therefore meaning that because structuralism detaches Wordsworth from the poem (which is written in the first person narrative), the reader has an opportunity to engage with the poem without being affected by Wordsworth’s own opinions on it. It would seem this gives the reader the best chance to appreciate and understand the beauty of the daffodils without be swayed by the poet’s personal experience. The daffodils are portrayed in an idyllic, almost over-exaggerated light, are called “golden” and are personified the flowers so they are “fluttering and dancing in the breeze” William Wordsworth, “I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud”, Poems (1815) Cited in Harvey Sucksmith, “Orchestra and the Golden Flower: A Critical Interpretation of the Two Versions of Wordsworth’s “I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud”, The Yearbook of English Studies vol. 4 (1974), pg. 149-158. By stripping the poet from the poem the reader takes the place of the “I”, meaning the reader forms their own unique images and ideas of what the poem means on a personal level. Barthes also references the fact we can contextualise the writing style of “I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud” by comparing it to another text, for example Dorothy Wordsworth’s Grasmere Journal. The journal, kept for Dorothy’s personal use, is blunt and …show more content…

I never saw daffodils so beautiful, they grew among the mossy stones about and about them, some rested their heads upon these stones as on a pillow for weariness and the rest tossed and reeled and danced and seemed as if they verily laughed with the wind that blew upon them over the lake, they looked so gay ever glancing ever

Get Access