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Velasquez February 06,2020

III-BSEd (English) Poetry and Drama

Title: I Wandered Lonely As A Cloud

Author: William Wordsworth
Biography :
Born in England in 1770, poet William Wordsworth worked with Samuel Taylor Coleridge
on Lyrical Ballads (1798). The collection, which contained Wordsworth's "Tintern Abbey,"
introduced Romanticism to English poetry. Wordsworth also showed his affinity for nature with
the famous poem "I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud." He became England's poet laureate in 1843, a
role he held until his death in 1850.

Early Life

Poet William Wordsworth was born on April 7, 1770, in Cockermouth, Cumberland, England.
Wordsworth’s mother died when he was 7, and he was an orphan at 13. Despite these losses, he
did well at Hawkshead Grammar School—where he wrote his first poetry—and went on to study
at Cambridge University. He did not excel there, but managed to graduate in 1791.

Did you know? In the late 1790s, William Wordsworth was thought to be a French spy and was
surveilled by a government agent.

Wordsworth had visited France in 1790—in the midst of the French Revolution—and was a
supporter of the new government’s republican ideals. On a return trip to France the next year, he
fell in love with Annette Vallon, who became pregnant. However, the declaration of war
between England and France in 1793 separated the two. Left adrift and without income in
England, Wordsworth was influenced by radicals such as William Godwin.

Young Poet

In 1795, Wordsworth received an inheritance that allowed him to live with his younger sister,
Dorothy. That same year, Wordsworth met Samuel Taylor Coleridge. The two became friends,
and together worked on Lyrical Ballads (1798). The volume contained poems such as
Coleridge's "Rime of the Ancient Mariner" and Wordsworth's "Tintern Abbey," and helped
Romanticism take hold in English poetry.

The same year that Lyrical Ballads was published, Wordsworth began writing The Prelude, an
epic autobiographical poem that he would revise throughout his life (it was published
posthumously in 1850). While working on The Prelude, Wordsworth produced other poetry,
such as "Lucy." He also wrote a preface for the second edition of Lyrical Ballads; it described
his poetry as being inspired by powerful emotions and would come to be seen as a declaration of
Romantic principles.

"Though nothing can bring back the hour, Of splendour in the grass, of glory in the flower." --
from Intimations of Immortality from Recollections of Early Childhood
In 1802, a temporary lull in fighting between England and France meant that Wordsworth was
able to see Vallon and their daughter, Caroline. After returning to England, he wed Mary
Hutchinson, who gave birth to the first of their five children in 1803. Wordsworth was also still
writing poetry, including the famous "I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud" and "Ode: Intimations of
Immortality." These pieces were published in another Wordsworth collection, Poems, in Two
Volumes (1807).

Evolving Poetry and Philosophy

As he grew older, Wordsworth began to reject radicalism. In 1813, he was named as a distributor
of stamps and moved his family to a new home in the Lake District. By 1818, Wordsworth was
an ardent supporter of the conservative Tories.

Though Wordsworth continued to produce poetry—including moving work that mourned the
deaths of two of his children in 1812—he had reached a zenith of creativity between 1798 and
1808. It was this early work that cemented his reputation as an acclaimed literary figure.

In 1843, Wordsworth became England's poet laureate, a position he held for the rest of his life.
At the age of 80, he died on April 23, 1850, at his home in Rydal Mount, Westmorland, England.

Form : Lyric Poem

Stanza : A stanza is the poetic form of some lines. In this poem, there are four stanzas with six
lines in each stanza.

Rhyme Scheme : The poem follows the ABABCC rhyme scheme, where the first line rhymes
with the third, and the second line rhymes with the fourth lines respectively.

Meter : Iambic Tetra Meter

Connotative Devices :
 Simile: Simile is a device used to compare one object to another to help readers
understand or to clarify the meanings using ‘as’ or ‘like’. There are two similes used in
this poem. “I wandered lonely as a cloud.” He compares his loneliness with a single
cloud. The second is used in the opening line of the second stanza, “Continues as the stars
that shine.” Here Wordsworth compares the endless row of daffodils with countless stars.
 Personification: Personification is to attribute human characteristics to lifeless objects.
The poet has personified “daffodils” in the third line of the poem such as, “When all at
once I saw a crowd.” The crowd shows the number of daffodils. The second example of
personification is used in the second stanza as, “Tossing their heads and sprightly dance.”
It shows that the Daffodils are humans that can dance. The third example is in the third
stanza such as, “In a jocund company.” Here he considered the daffodils as his buoyant
company.
 Alliteration: Alliteration is the repetition of the same consonant sounds in the same lines
of poetry such as the use of /g/ sound in, “I gazed and gazed” and the use of /w/ sound in,
“What wealth the show to me had brought.”
 Assonance: Assonance is the repetition of vowel sounds in the same line such as the
sound of /a/ in “Ten thousand I saw at a glance” and /e/ sound in “They stretched in
never-ending.”
 Consonance: Consonance is the repetition of consonant sounds such as the sound of /t/ in
“what wealth the show to me had brought” and /n/ sound in “in vacant or in pensive.”
 Metaphor: Wordsworth has used one metaphor in this poem in the last stanza as “They
flash upon that inward eye.” Here “inward eye” represents the sweet memory of
daffodils.
 Imagery: The use of imagery makes the reader visualize the writer’s feelings and
emotions. Wordsworth has used images appealing to the sense of sight such as “lonely as
a cloud”, “ a crowd”, “never-ending line”, ”milky way” and “jocund company.” These
descriptions help the reader to imagine or feel the same joy felt by the speaker.

Summary :

As this poem is about the captivating beauty of nature, it has been written from
the subjective point of view. It details the poet’s encounters with the majestic daffodils in
the field beside the lake. The expression of wonder can be felt throughout the poem. The
feeling of enjoying the spellbinding beauty of nature and its impacts on the human mind
can leave the reader desiring to spend more time with nature. The major theme of this
poem is nature and human involvement in natural beauty. It also points to another theme
– the impact of nature on a human. The poem encompasses the thoughts of an adult, why
he meanders over the hills and how this sudden occurrence is a blessing in his solitude.
The never-ending row of those enchanting flowers impresses him so much that he
compares them with the sparkling stars of the galaxy. He is captivated by the startling
 view of nature. This everlasting impact, triggered by nature, often serves as a delight for
the poet, when he feels low or in loneliness.

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