Name _______________________________________
Date
Directions: Actively read each poem (take notes in the margins) and then answer the questions that follow.
“I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud” – William Wordsworth
I wandered lonely as a cloud
That floats on high o’er the vales and hills.
When all at once I saw a crowd,
A host, of golden daffodils.
Beside the lake, beneath the trees,
(5)
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.
The waves beside them dances, but they
Outdid the sparking waves in glee:
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;
Continuous as the stars that shine
And twinkle on the milky way,
They stretched in never-ending line
Along the margin of a bay;
(10)
Ten thousand saw I at a glance,
Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.
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.
(15)
(20)
1.
This famous lyric starts with a strong simile. What does it tell you about what the speaker is doing and what his
mood is?
2.
Line 3 introduces the personification of the daffodils. Find at least three human qualities or activities that the
speaker attributes to them.
3.
Name the ways in which the daffodils and their behavior contrast with the speaker’s mood. How does the
encounter change the speaker’s mood?
4.
Only much later does the speaker experience the true “wealth” of his encounter with the daffodils. Explain
what you think a “vacant” or “pensive” mood is.
5.
What do you think the speaker means by “that inward eye” (line 21) – is he referring to memory of
imagination? In either case, how might the “inward eye” be the “bliss of solitude?”
6.
Do you think any person would have reacted the same way to this experience or did this speaker create the
richness of the experience for himself? Explain.
7.
In the nineteenth century, when this poem was written, people felt that it was important to “commune with
nature.” They looked for security and comfort in the beauty of natural things and in their ability to renew
themselves in the endless cycles. Do you think it is possible to experience nature in this way today? Can you
remember seeing something in nature – in growing things, in animals, in weather – that remains in your own
“inward eye”? Explain.
The Road Not Taken- Robert Frost
Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;
And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.
Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that, the passing there
Had worn them really about the same.
I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I –
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.
8.
Describe the road the speaker chooses. Why doesn’t he think he will ever get a chance to travel down the other
road?
9.
How does the speaker think he will feel about his choice in the future? Why? Cite lines to defend your
opinions.
10. At what time of year does the speaker come upon the two roads? Name at least three feelings that are normally
associated with this season. What different emotional effect would the poem have if the decisions about the
reads had been made in spring? Why?
11. Instead of roads through a garden or a wide –open plain, why do you think the poet uses roads that go through
woods?
12. Even though he says the two roads are “really” about the same,” some factor leads the speaker to choose one
over the other. What do you think that factor is? What is the significance in the road he selects?
13. Explain what you think the speaker means when he says that he “kept” the first road for another day.
14. Why do you think the speaker’s choice made all the difference?
15. What light does the title shed on the speaker’s feeling about his choice? Is this a common feeling about
decisions we make in life?
16. Why do you think Frost himself calls this a “tricky” poem?