William Wordsworth
Lecture Outline
 1.Appreciation: I wondered lonely as a cloud.
She Dwelt among the Untrodden Ways
 2.Summary of Wordsworth’s poetics
 3.Romanticism and Lake Poets
 4.Wordsworth’s literary position
 5. Criticism on William Wordsworth

I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud
(To Daffodils)
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.
I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud
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.
I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud
The waves beside them danced; but they
Outdid the sparkling 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:
I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud
For oft, when on my couch I lie
In vacant 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.
Questions for Discussion
1. What is your general impression on this
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
poem?
What does the image of cloud suggest to
you?
What has cheered the poet up?
What has the poet meditated from what
he has described? And the theme?
Do you think that nature can have the
healing effect on mind?
Pay attention to the tense used in this
poem. What does it indicate?
Question 1
 What is your general impression on this
poem?
Question 2
What does the image of cloud suggest to
you?
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Loneliness, isolation, solitude, aimlessness,
aloofness
I wandered lonely as a cloud---loneliness
That floats on---aimlessness
High over vales and hills---solitude, isolation
Cloud represents the feelings
of the speaker (the poet) essentially.

Question 3
What has cheered the poet up? And
how?
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a host of golden daffodils,
fluttering, dancing and glittering daffodils
Shine and twinkle as the stars
Stretched endlessly
The cloud-like poet is deeply attracted by the
beauty of the nature and turns to be highspirited, instead of being lonely any more.
Question 4
What has the poet meditated from what
he has described? And the theme?
 In loneliness or in low spirit, the recollection of
the nature beauty brings him “the bliss” and
“pleasure” in his heart.
 Therefore the idea of going back to nature
is advocated and clearly expressed in this poem.
Question 5
Do you think that nature can have the
healing effect on mind?
Question 6
Pay attention to the tense used in this
poem. What does it indicate?
 past tense
 the recollection of the past experience will
arouse a new sense of the old memories
“what wealth the show to me had brought”
“the bliss of solitude/ flash upon that inward eye”
Quotes
“Poetry takes its origin from
emotion recollections in
tranquility…
tranquil contemplation of an
emotional experience matures the
feeling and sensation, and makes
possible the creation of good poetry
like the mellow of old wine”.
----- William Wordsworth
Summary of the poem
What does the poem impress you most?
 Use of image
 Vivid description of nature
 Daily language
She Dwelt among the Untrodden Ways
never be stepped on
live
She dwelt among the untrodden ways
Beside the springs of Dove,
A maid whom there were none to praise
And very few to love
She Dwelt Among the Untrodden Ways
A violet by a mossy tone
Half hidden from the eye!
---Fair as a star, when only one
Is shining in the sky.
She Dwelt Among the Untrodden Ways
She lived unknown, and few could know
died
When Lucy ceased to be;
But she is in her grave, and, oh,
The difference to me!
Questions for Discussion
1. What are the three stanzas about?
2. What’s significance of the girl to the
speaker “I”?
3. If we omit the second stanza, what has
left in the poem? What’s the function of
the second stanza?
4. Why does the speaker compare Lucy to a
violet, not a rose?
5. Do you think the image of star is
contradictory to the image of violet?
Question 1
What are the three stanzas about?
 In
memory of a country-girl named Lucy
 An elegy : a lyric poem lamenting the death of
a friend or public figure, or reflecting
seriously on a solemn subject
------Oxford Concise Dictionary of
Literary Terms
Question 2
What’s significance of the girl to the
speaker “I”? How do you know?
 Lucy
lived unknown and few to love
 She is important and her death is a great
shock to “me”.
 A violet, fair as a star shining in the sky
 When she ceased to me,/ the difference to me
Question 3
 If we omit the second stanza, what has left in the poem?
She dwelt among the untrodden ways
Beside the springs of Dove,
Maid whom there were none to praise
And very few to love:
She lived unknown, and few could know
When Lucy ceased to be;
But she is in her grave, and, oh,
The difference to me!


Narration left; in regular rhyme scheme: abab cdcd
Lucy lived remote from the world, and her death passed unnoticed. Yet,
Lucy’s passing made no difference to the world, it has made all the
difference to her lover.
Question 3
What’s the function of the second
stanza?
 Core
stanza
 Lyric by using two dominant images
1) Violet half hidden
2) Star shining in the sky
Question 4
 Why does the speaker compare Lucy to a
violet, not a rose?

The rose will not do to supply a vague
enhancement to Lucy. Lucy’s natural charm, like
that of the violet, was derived from her modesty.
She, too, was “half-hidden from the eye”, obscure
and unnoticed.
Question 5
 The prominence of the star suggests Venus as
evening star, normally the first star to shine forth
after the sunset. Do you think the image of star is
contradictory to the image of violet?
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Paradoxical?
Violet-Lucy: obscure, modest to the world
Star-Lucy: bright and unmatched to the eye of her lover:
no contradiction!
Episode Summary
 We notice that the imagery is not something
additional---merely decorative. If poetry
does bring together idea and emotion,
rendering an experience dramatically in
concrete terms, then stanza 2 of the poem is
the core---the very heart---of the poem.
Wordsworth’s poetry
 What are the main features of Wordsworth’s
poetry?
 back
to nature
 deep love of nature
 appeal to individual sensations
 attention to humble folk of rural life
 simplicity and purity in language
Wordsworth’s Poetics 1
Definition:
A good poetry is the spontaneous overflow of
powerful feelings.
Function of poetry:
The function of poetry lies in its power to give an
unexpected splendor to familiar and commonplace
things.
Wordsworth’s Poetics 2
Subject of matter:
ordinary peasants, children, ever
outcasts, all may be used as subjects in
poetical creation. (common people)
On language:
real language of men
Comparison between Wordsworth and
Pope’s poetics
William Wordsworth Alexander Pope
Poetry definition Overflow of powerful Lacked lyric gift
feelings
Skills in versification
in heroic couple
Function of
poetry
Unexpected splendor Didactic
to familiar things
Satiric
Subject matter
Nature and humble
people
language
Simple words in daily Smooth, balanced and
language
concise in elegant
diction
Upper class of city life
Pope’s famous lines
 I corrected because it was as pleasant to me to

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correct as to write.
What oft was thought, but never so well expressed.
To err is human, to forgive, divine.
For fools rush in where angles fear to tread.
Hope springs eternal in human breast.
A little learning is a dangerous thing.
The proper study of mankind is man.
Wordsworth’s other works
 Short lyrics:
 Lines Written in Early Spring
 To the Cuckoo
 My Heart Leaps up
 The Solitary Reaper
 We are Seven
 Lucy Poems
 Lines Composed a Few Miles above
Tintern Abbey
Wordsworth’s main works

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1)
2)
3)
4)
Long narrative poem
Prelude
Autobiographic
Philosophic
Expression of his poetics on imagination
In blank verse
William Wordsworth’s Literary Position
 A leader of English
Romanticism
 A lake poet
 Poet of nature
English Romanticism
 Time:
 It
prevailed in England during the period
1798—1832;
 Beginning:
Lyrical Ballads in 1798
 End: death of Walter Scott in 1832
English Romanticism
 Main features:
 Imagination
Imagination is the supreme faculty of the mind.
Imagination can change and create.
Imagination can unify different elements into a
complex whole.
 Suggested poem
 The Rime of the Ancient
Mariner by Samuel Coleridge
English Romanticism
 Idealization of Nature
Nature has a healing power.
Nature is a source of subject and image.
Nature is a refuge from the artificial constructs of
civilization.
"that Nature never did betray the heart that loved
her." ---Wordsworth
 Suggest poem
 Wordsworth’s Tintern Abbey
English Romanticism
 Individualism
Man is the center of all concern.
Romanticists emphasized the dignify of man and the
importance of the present life.
Man is an individual in a solitary state.
Romanticists valued the exploration and evaluation
of the inner self.
 Suggest poem:
 George Byron’s
Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage
Quote
“I am not made like anyone I have seen; I dare
believe that I am not made like anyone in existence. If I
am not superior, at least I am different.”
------Jean Jacques Rousseau (法: 让-雅克-卢梭)
English Romanticism
 Glorification of the commonplace
materials: the natural, the commonplace, the
simple
common incidents and situations
natural diction and language
 Suggested poem:
 The Solitary Reaper
by Wordsworth
English Romanticism
 The lure of the exotic
Wordsworth and Coleridge: lived by the riverside
Byron and Shelly: self-imposed exile
expanded the imaginary horizons spatially and
chronologically
---the middle ages
---the distant places
allow free play to the supernatural
 Suggested poem:
 Coleridge’s Kubla Khan
English Romanticism
 Representatives: Wordsworth, Coleridge, Shelley,
Byron and Keats
English Romanticism
William Wordsworth’s Contemporizes
The Lake Poets
 The Lake Poets:
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William Wordsworth,
Samuel Coleridge
Robert Southey
 They lived in the Lake
District in the northwestern
part of England.
 They traversed the same
path in politics and in
poetry, beginning as radicals
and ending up as
conservatives.
Lake District
Lake District
Wordsworth’s birthplace
in Cockermouth, Cumberland
Grasmere in Lake District and Dove Cottage
Dove Cottage
Old Residence of William Wordsworth
in Rydal Mount
William Wordsworth’s Change
 From 1787-91, aroused by the French Revolution
 In 1790-92, twice visited France
 In 1973, disheartened by the outbreak of hostilities between
France and Britain.
 The rise of Napoleon (1799-1814): France invaded other
Europeans countries, revealing the desire for Empire instead
of desire of liberty.
 He gave up his former political enthusiasm and turned to be
conservative in politics.
 He retired to the northern lake district and lived in seclusion
for a full half century.
 He was made poet laureate in 1843.
 He died in 1850 at the age of 80.
Gravestone of Wordsworth, Grasmere
Criticism on William Wordsworth
In honored poverty thy voice did weave
Songs consecrate to truth and liberty—
Deserting these, thou leavest me to grieve,
Thus having been, that thou shouldest cease to be.
-------by Percy Shelley
Nearly all Wordsworth’s good poetry
was written during the first decade of
his literary career (1798-1807), when he
still kept his early, political enthusiasm
or at least retained some contact with
the real life of his time.
Passive Romanticists ?
elder generation:
Coleridge and
Wordsworth
Younger
generation: Byron
and Shelley
Comparison between Wordsworth and Tao Qian
采菊东篱下，
悠然见南山。
山气日夕佳，
飞鸟相与还。
此中有真意，
欲辩已忘言。
中西诗歌比较
西诗以直率胜，中诗以委婉胜；
西诗以深刻胜，中诗以微妙胜；
西诗以铺陈胜，中诗以简隽胜。
----朱光潜：《诗论》之中西诗歌情趣比较
Homework for next lecture
 Appreciate the poem The Isles of Greece by Byron
and try to answer the following questions:
1 ) What kind of feeling does Byron express in the
poem?
2) What are the artistic features of the poem?
3) What is Byronic hero?
4) What is ottava rima?
5) to State Byron’s literary achievement.
6) to Compare Byron with Wordsworth and then state
the differences between the elder and younger
generation of English Romanticists.