“I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud” by William Wordsworth (p. 533)
Part A. Define the following literary terms.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
rhythm (p. 530)
meter (p. 530)
iamb (p. 531)
foot (p. 531)
scanning (p. 531)
tetrameter: a poetic line that contains four feet
Part B. Pre-reading: Read “William Wordsworth” on page 534. Answer the following questions in complete
sentences.
1. What did Wordsworth believe was the best teacher?
2. What did Wordsworth and his friend Coleridge use as subjects for their poetry?
3. According to Wordsworth, when does poetry “begin”?
4. Who was Dorothy, and what did she and Wordsworth do together?
Part C. Pre-reading: “I Never Saw Daffodils So Beautiful” by Dorothy Wordsworth on page 535. Answer the
following questions in complete sentences.
1. Who do you think the “we “represents in this journal account?
2. When did this experience occur?
3. What do Dorothy and the others see?
4. What happens to them at the end of the journal entry?
Part D. Read and paraphrase the poem on the worksheet provided. Use the glossary below to help you
understand the poem.
Part E. Thinking Critically. Answer these questions in complete sentences.
1. What is the speaker’s mood in stanza 1?
2. What does he see “all at once”?
3. How does the speaker’s mood change that day because of what he sees?
4. How does the memory of what he saw affect him later?
5. List at least two phrases in the poem that personify the daffodils, making them seem friendly. Reread
Dorothy Wordsworth’s journal on p. 535 and list at least two phrases that also personify the flowers.
6. How would you explain the “inward eye” in the last stanza?
Part F. Rhyme and Rhythm.
1. On the poem worksheet, chart the rhyme scheme of the poem.
2. Do a scansion (charting the meter) of the poem.
a. Copy the scansion of the first stanza from the board. How many feet are in each line?
b. Scan the second stanza together with the class. What is the pattern used in each foot?
c. With a partner, scan the third stanza.
d. On your own: scan the last stanza. Compare your results with a partner.
e. Identify the meter used in the poem. It is _____ _______. (Hint: use the terms listed at the top of
this handout.
Part D. Analysis of the poem. Read the poem below and paraphrase the poem, line by line, in your own words.
Stanza
1
I wandered lonely as a cloud
I walked alone like a single cloud
That floats on high o'er vales and hills,
That drifts over the land
When all at once I saw a crowd,
Then I saw a lot of
A host, of golden daffodils;
Yellow daffodils in a field
Beside the lake, beneath the trees,
Near a lake and under some trees
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze..
Moving and swaying in the wind.
Continuous as the stars that shine
And twinkle on the milky way,
Stanza
2
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 waves in glee:—
Stanza
3
A poet could not but be gay1
In such a jocund2 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 vacant3 or in pensive4 mood,
Stanza
4
They flash upon that inward eye
Which is the bliss5 of solitude,6
And then my heart with pleasure fills,
And dances with the daffodils..
1
2
5
6
gay: very happy
bliss: joyfulness
3
jocund: laughing, cheerful
vacant: empty, emotionless
solitude: state of being by one’s self
4
pensive: sadly thoughtful