"I gazed-and gazed-but little thought" Alex Nelson’s Poetry Explanation on Wordsworth’s poem "I Wandered As Lonely As A Cloud" Imagine walking through a field in early summer, around an aqua blue lake that is in the shape of a giant egg. You discover a field of daffodils that is flowing in motion like a grand "dance" full of elegance. This area is full of sublime that can only be fully appreciated by a poet. William Wordsworth has been to this place and it was the subject of his poem "I Wandered As Lonely As A Cloud.” He entered a state of tranquility when he visited here and writes this proficient piece of poetry when he has recollections about the daffodils. This poem questions the actual connection of man with nature. This essay will look into the figurative language, tone, theme, and imagery to discuss how the crisis of the speaker when he realizes that he cannot sustain the exalted feeling of looking out at the flowers. It will also look into the resolution, the memory, and the recollection. The figurative language hints at settle meanings that are not on the surface of this poem. They suggest the very connection between man and nature, and man’s desire to be part of the natural world. In this poem Wordsworth personifies the daffodils as people: “A host of golden daffodils / Fluttering and dancing in the breeze”. (Lines 4 & 6) This personification is relating the ecosystem around this majestic lake t...
(ll. 19-24) 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 small
Therefore, Oliver’s incorporation of imagery, setting, and mood to control the perspective of her own poem, as well as to further build the contrast she establishes through the speaker, serves a critical role in creating the lesson of the work. Oliver’s poem essentially gives the poet an ultimatum; either he can go to the “cave behind all that / jubilation” (10-11) produced by a waterfall to “drip with despair” (14) without disturbing the world with his misery, or, instead, he can mimic the thrush who sings its poetry from a “green branch” (15) on which the “passing foil of the water” (16) gently brushes its feathers. The contrast between these two images is quite pronounced, and the intention of such description is to persuade the audience by setting their mood towards the two poets to match that of the speaker. The most apparent difference between these two depictions is the gracelessness of the first versus the gracefulness of the second. Within the poem’s content, the setting has been skillfully intertwined with both imagery and mood to create an understanding of the two poets, whose surroundings characterize them. The poet stands alone in a cave “to cry aloud for [his] / mistakes” while the thrush shares its beautiful and lovely music with the world (1-2). As such, the overall function of these three elements within the poem is to portray the
El Mirador was a major Mayan city that from about the 6th century BC and abandoned at the end of the 9th century. The ruins of El Mirador were discovered in 1926 but received little attention due to its remote location deep in the jungle of northern Guatemala. Today the site remains largely covered by tropical jungle. Visiting El Mirador is not for the faint of heart. The village of Carmelita is the nearest point to the ruins that you can go by car. From there it takes a grueling hike of at least five days and four nights through the jungle with ants, ticks and mosquitoes that never relent.
In Wordsworth's poem it says " Continuous as the stars that shine and twinkle on the milky way". Here he is showing that there was an abundant amount of daffodils in a cluster in this field. "And then my heart with pleasure fills And dances with the daffodils" This day with his sister and the daffodils makes him gay, as said in line 15, but you can see the excitement and contentment in his words and how he feels about these flowers. He is using personification to help explain how the daffodils made him feel and have a
An individual’s solitude can come from the state of being alone; however, this word goes deeper for the purpose here. To be in a solitary state does not mean an individual is lonely or isolated in a negative way. The word instead means a chosen state in which an individual has time to reflect internally. This gives an individual time to observe and reflect. The observation can lead to a positive or negative response. This is seen in two contrasting poems: William Wordsworth’s “Daffodils” and William Blake’s “London.” In Wordsworth’s poem, his persona is observing “[a] host, of golden daffodils” (Line 4). His persona is initially “lonely” but gains a sense of solitude after seeing these yellow flowers (1). This solitude allows him retreat to personally reflect on what he has seen. In Blake’s poem, this poet’s persona has not physically separated himself from other people. He is, instead, observing his external surroundings and internally reflecting on them. Each poet depicts a solitary speaker observing his surroundings. This reveals each individual’s internal reflection. The main contrast, however, arises when Wordsworth’s persona responds positively in observing the natural world, whereas Blake’s persona responds negatively in observing an industrial London.
In Muir’s essay his tone remains calm and happy as he explains the struggles he faced while looking for the Calypso. He talks about the control the Calypso has over him as he states at one point in his essay, “It seems wonderful that so frail and lovely a plant has such power over human hearts.” In this statement Muir is describing to his audience that the Calypso has a strong controller over his feelings because of its beauty. Wordsworth also uses various positive tones when describing his relationship with nature. In Wordsworth's poem he states that his “heart with pleasure fills” at the sight of the daffodils. This statement shows the audience that the sight of the daffodils makes Wordsworth’s heart fill with pleasure and delight as he examines their beauty. The audience is also shown how Wordsworth’s tone changes when he is separated from the daffodils, as it quickly changes from being joyous to being depressing. This quick shift in tone can be seen in the first stanza when Wordsworth says, “I wandered lonely as a cloud that floats on high o'er vales and hills,” this statement allows the audience to see that Wordsworth is sad and depressed when he is not accompanied by the daffodils, which shows that Wordsworth has a codependent relationship with
“The power of imagination makes us infinite.” (John Muir). Both John Muir and William Wordsworth demonstrate this through their use of language as they describe nature scenes. John Muir studies nature and in his essay about locating the Calypso Borealis he uses scientific descriptions to grab his reader’s attention and to portray his excitement at finding the rare flower. William Wordsworth on the other hand shows his appreciation for the beauty of nature and its effect on a person’s emotions in the vivid visual descriptions that he gives of the daffodils in his poem ‘I wandered lonely as a cloud.’ Wordsworth with his appreciation of beauty and Muir through scientific descriptions provide an indication of the influence that nature has had on them as they capture their reader’s attention both emotionally and visually through their personal and unique use of tone, diction, syntax and vocabulary.
A prominent theme throughout Mary Oliver's poems is the appreciation of the natural world and all of its little details. Oliver is renowned for her ability to immerse the reader in the natural world through powerful language and imagery, allowing them to truly appreciate the beauty of nature. Her close observation of nature illustrates her intimate relationship with nature and is exemplified in one her most famous poems "The Summer Day," in which she questions the origins of nature. In this poem, Oliver conveys her love of nature through the speaker, who is not only a passive observer and admirer of nature, but also an active thinker and component of nature. By choosing nature as the poem's center of attention, Oliver is able to depict nature as a beautiful and mystical place, evoking the reader's awe and fascination. This poem is so beautiful because the speaker describes to the reader the lovely little idiosyncrasies that she notices within nature, illustrating how nature is infinitely complex and that even little insects are worthy of appreciation.
...s' poems and interpret his thoughts and imagination. Comparing Autumn's winnowing hair to a billowing cloud of straw, although it makes for an interesting picture inside a reader's head, is not something that my brain associates with nature. It was this kind of comparison to nature, and Keats awkward use of personification that made me relate and like Wordsworth's poem better. Wordsworth, like any other good poet was able transform ordinary life into art. A process of interpreting what he saw, shaping, and ordering took place between the time that he observed the daffodils and the finished poem. Wordsworth made it possible for the reader to see the daffodils in a new way that did not require an awkward use of language. It also provided a setting that was not only enjoyable to read, but left the reader a newfound appreciation of nature that Wordsworth showed us.
...ty of the daffodils. The powerful effect that they have on his mind and body snap him out of depression and cause him to experience such a strong and powerful joy. This poem shows the powerful affect nature can have on the emotions of a person.
The poem has a lot of nature images that you can practically see: the trees, the water, the stars and the daffodils. Unlike " Upon Westminster Bridge" which I feel is slightly sarcastic. In " The daffodils" Wordsworth's tone is merry and flows quickly and nicely; it's like he is creating a painting not a poem.
I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud – An Analysis I chose the poem "I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud" by William Wordsworth because I like the imagery in it of dancing daffodils. Upon closer examination, I realized that most of this imagery is created by the many metaphors and similes Wordsworth uses. In the first line, Wordsworth says "I wandered lonely like a cloud. " This is a simile comparing the wonder of a man to a cloud drifting through the sky. I suppose the wandering cloud is lonely because there is nothing up there that high in the sky besides it.
In “I wandered Lonely as a Cloud,” William Wordsworth accomplishes his ideal of nature by using personification, alliteration, and simile within his poem to convey to the reader how nature’s beauty uplifts his spirits and takes him away from his boring daily routine. Wordsworth relates himself in solidarity to that of a cloud wandering alone, “I wandered lonely as a cloud” (line 1). Comparing the cloud and himself to that of a lonely human in low spirits of isolation, simultaneously the author compares the daffodils he comes across as he “floats on high o’er vales and hills” (line 2) to that of a crowd of people dancing (lines 3-6 and again in 12). Watching and admiring the dancing daffodils as he floats on by relating them to various beauties of
In William Wordsworth’s poems, the role of nature plays a more reassuring and pivotal r ole within them. To Wordsworth’s poetry, interacting with nature represents the forces of the natural world. Throughout the three poems, Resolution and Independence, Tintern Abbey, and Michael, which will be discussed in this essay, nature is seen prominently as an everlasting- individual figure, which gives his audience as well as Wordsworth, himself, a sense of console. In all three poems, Wordsworth views nature and human beings as complementary elements of a sum of a whole, recognizing that humans are a sum of nature. Therefore, looking at the world as a soothing being of which he is a part of, Wordsworth looks at nature and sees the benevolence of the divinity aspects behind them.
His poem recognizes the ordinary and turns it into a spectacular recollection, whose ordinary characteristics are his principal models for Nature. As Geoffrey H. Hartman notes in his “Wordsworth’s poetry 1787-1814”, “Anything in nature stirs [Wordsworth] and renews in turn his sense of nature” (Hartman 29). “The Poetry of William Wordsworth” recalls a quote from the Prelude to Wordsworth’s 1802 edition of Lyrical ballads where they said “[he] believed his fellow poets should "choose incidents and situations from common life and to relate or describe them.in a selection of language really used by men” (Poetry). In the shallowest sense, Wordsworth is using his view of the Tintern Abbey as a platform or recollection, however, this ordinary act of recollection stirs within him a deeper understanding.