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 leaves in glee;
A poet could not be but 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.
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 leaves in glee;
A poet could not be but 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.
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You can really see the field of daffodils through this poem. The comparison to the waves of the lake create a wonderful vision. I really like this poem. It seems to me like a dream, the description of the landscape below the clouds. The last few lines were particularly interesting:
ReplyDelete"They flash upon that inward eye
Which is the bliss of solitude;
And then my heart with pleasure fills,
And dances with the daffodils."
I really liked how he said the beauty of solitude is what you see within yourself, what you remember from before.
One thing that really stood out in this poem is its focus on a single powerful image. This poem does not just use imagery- it has an image at its heart.
ReplyDeleteThis poem, to me, is about beauty and how it affects us. Wordsworth wonders "what wealth the show to me had brought", but later finds that "my heart with pleasure fills/ And dances with the daffodils." This shows how beauty is its own reward that has an incredible impact on people. Beauty is its own joy, and can't really have its worth justified. It has the power to make us happy, even just from the memory of a sight as wonderful as Wordsworth's daffodils.
Yeah that's deep. "Beauty is its own joy..." I like that.
ReplyDelete