By: Dominic Piedmont






Born in 1770, and wrote the poem in 1804
Mother died when he was 8 and father died
later
Attended Hawkshead Grammar School
Two children died young, third died later in
life
Credited with starting Romantic Period
Close to his sister

Who is the speaker ?

What era was it written in?

Themes of the poem.

Simple pleasures
 “And [my heart] dances with the daffodils”
 “A poet could not but be gay”

Rebirth and Hope
 Daffodils representative of this

Depression
 “I wandered lonely as a cloud”
 “In vacant or in pensive mood”

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  simile
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  simile
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.  End
stopped line

I wandered lonely as a cloud  simile
That floats on high o'er vales and hills,
When all at once I saw a crowd,
Enjambment
A host, of golden daffodils;
Beside the lake, beneath the trees,
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.  End
stopped line

I wandered lonely as a cloud  simile
That floats on high o'er vales and hills,
When all at once I saw a crowd,
Enjambment
A host, of golden daffodils;
Beside the lake, beneath the trees,
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.  End
stopped line
Personification

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.  End
Stopped Line

Continuous as the stars that shine
And twinkle on the milky way,
They stretched in never-ending line
Along the margin of a bay:
Couplet
Ten thousand saw I at a glance,
Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.  End
Stopped Line

Continuous as the stars that shine
And twinkle on the milky way,
Enjambment
They stretched in never-ending line
Along the margin of a bay:
Couplet
Ten thousand saw I at a glance,
Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.  End
Stopped Line

Continuous as the stars that shine
And twinkle on the milky way,
Enjambment
They stretched in never-ending line
Along the margin of a bay:
Couplet
Ten thousand saw I at a glance,
Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.  End
Stopped Line

The waves beside them danced; but they
Out-did 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:

The waves beside them danced; but they
Out-did 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:
Caesura
Personification

The waves beside them danced; but they
Out-did 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:
Caesura

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.

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;  Paradox
And then my heart with pleasure fills,
And dances with the daffodils.




“ “I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud" dramatizes an experience
of the sublime” (Brennan).
“… the flowers simply bring psychological ease:
The lonely poet sees the "jocund company" and becomes
happy” (Joplin).
“… the event moves through a transposition into a spiritual
experience. For one thing, the intent gazing
signals a meditative moment akin to spiritual activity: As he
drinks in nature's beauty; the poet attains an elevated state of
mind” (Joplin).
“Wordsworth was known to have suffered a sudden and deep
depression” (Liu).






Google Images
Brennan, Matthew C. "Wordsworth's I Wandered Lonely as
A Cloud." The Explicator 57.3 (1999): 140-3. ProQuest. Web.
28 Apr. 2013.
Joplin, David. "Wordsworth's I Wandered Lonely as a
Cloud." The Explicator 56.2 (1998): 67-70. ProQuest. Web.
28 Apr. 2013.
Liu, Yu. "Crisis and Recovery: The Wordsworthian Poetics
and Politics." Papers on Language & Literature 39.1 (2000):
19+. Literature Resources. Web. 28 Apr. 2013.
Rose, Phyllis. "Dances with Daffodils." The Atlantic
Monthly 2002: 49-51. ProQuest. Web. 28 Apr. 2013 .
"William Wordsworth." - Poets.org. N.p., n.d. Web. 29 Apr.
2013. <http://www.poets.org/poet.php/prmPID/296>.