I Wandered Lonely as
a Cloud
William Wordsworth
William Wordsworth
Was married to Fanny Graham
Had four kids: Mary Louisa, William, Reginald, and Gordon.
He was one of the greatest romantic poets in the 19 – century England.
Studied at Cambridge University
Date of Birth: April 7, 1770
Birth-place: Cocker mouth, Cumber, England
Death Date: April 23, 1850
Death-place: Rydal mount, Westmoreland
Genre And Form
Genre
A lyric poem presents the deep
feelings and emotions of the
poet rather than telling a story
or presenting a witty
observation.
Form
It consists of four six-line stanzas, in
iambic tetrameter and an ABABCC
rhyme scheme.
Alliteration: lonely as a cloud (line 1).
Simile: Comparison (using as) of the speaker's
solitariness to that of a cloud (line 1).
Personification: Comparison of the cloud to a
lonely human. (line 1)
Questions: (6, 7, & 8)
How does the language of the poem contribute to its meaning?
People don’t manage to see the world through things that we don’t actually pay
attention to. Seeing the same thing, but in a whole different way. Being able to
view a different meaning for the same point of view.
How is the poem organized?
The poem is organized with an imaginative form, the speaker visions himself as an
object and gives it life by using personification.
Do patterns of rhyme and rhythm contribute to meaning and effect of the poem?
Yes, the poem contains four stanzas of six lines each. In each stanza, the first line rhymes
with the third and the second with the fourth.
Questions: (3, 5, & 9)
What is the dramatic context of the poem?
The dramatic context of the poem is that first the speaker is a cloud floating and
happens to see some daffodils and they stretch all along the shore. Because there
are so many of them, they remind the speaker of the Milky Way. The speaker
humanizes the daffodils when he says they are engaging in a dance.
What motivates the speaker to speak now, in the tone he/she uses?
The speaker began to wonder of “what if”, and developed a tone with rhythm that
understands the poem.
What theme does the poem contain?
The theme that the poem contains is that people sometimes fail to appreciate nature’s
wonders as they go about their daily routines. Basically it means that people go
through their daily life without noticing the beauty that nature offers us.
Questions (1, 2, & 4)
Who is talking?
The poet is the speaker of the poem.
To whom is the speaker talking?
The speaker speaks out to himself. For he wonders on his own and visions
himself as a lonely cloud and gives it a short life story.
What happens during the poem?
As he imagines himself as a cloud, he sees the world below him as he soars
along with the wind.
I am the wind
Soaring through the trees
Seeing all the history
Question 10
What was your initial response to the
poem?
Our response was that it had to deal with
the beauty of nature.
How does your new poem improve the
message of the original?
This poem contributes to the wind. The
main thing that makes the clouds move.
Hearing the music
Capturing the moments of every
second for I have been in
existence since time itself
began
All the scenery that I have endured
come ‘n’ go as I please I feel
cold
Sometimes hot
Other times I refresh and warm up
the senses I cannot be caught
I cannot be tamed