preview

Daffodils by William Wordsworth

Decent Essays

William Wordsmith's "I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud" or "Daffodils": Analysis
A BESTWORD ANALYSIS
As far as there is to mention, there is little of weight or consequence to speak of in the direct analysis of William Wordsworth’s “I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud”, or “Daffodils” as it is popularly referred to today. From introduction to conclusion, William Wordsworth cleanly describes the act of watching a patch of country daffodils swaying in the breeze and the lasting effect this pleasant image has on his quiet moments of reverie thereafter. But, perhaps in this simple four stanza poem, William Wordsworth has, in writing “I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud”, succeeded in creating one of his greatest works of Romantic poetry by so perfectly …show more content…

William Wordsworth’s “lonely cloud” is our own private impersonal perception of the world, floating miles above it and missing the quiet virtues of nature, beauty, and other sources of emotional nourishment.
As William Wordsworth’s narrator is walking, he notices “A host, of golden daffodils;… Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.” (4 and 6). Wordsworth goes on to describe these “golden daffodils” as a vast plot of swaying flowers around the fringes of a bay, outdoing the beauty of the ocean’s waves with their own golden oscillation. Describing the daffodils for the next several lines, Wordsworth helps us to visualize what he himself has seen and was so moved by; “Tossing their heads in sprightly dance. / The waves beside them danced; but they / Out-did the sparkling waves in glee” (12-14). These light-hearted daffodils, weaving in unison with each other in the wind, have romantically touched Wordsworth, their natural beauty reaching him in ways that he describes as not fully understanding until later: “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:” (15-18).
It is here that your humble writer can not help but remember one of William Wordsworth’s

Get Access