"Daffodils" by William Wordsworth

William Wordsworth  was a major English Romantic poet. He was born on 7th April 1770, and died on 23rd April 1850. He is famous for his collaborated work with Samuel Taylor Coleridge Lyrical Ballads(1798). He is also famous for using common man’s language in his poetries. "I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud" also commonly known as "Daffodils" is a lyric poem by William Wordsworth. It is Wordsworth's most famous work.

In first stanza poet is wandering lonely as a cloud. As cloud do not have any pre designed road to travel, same way poet is not certain about his way. As cloud floats over high valleys and hills poet also wants to do the same. When the poet was wandering he saw a host of daffodils. Daffodils. Are yellow in colour and nay be that is why poet has called daffodils golden. The daffodils were besides the lake and beneath the trees. There was a cool breeze, and with breeze daffodils were fluttering and it seems like they were dancing.

In second stanza, poet says that there were large amount of daffodils which are in never ending line. He compares this with the stars in milky way. There endless stars in milky way which keep shining and twinkling, same way daffodils are also in never ending line along side of a bay. In last two line of second stanza poet says that he saw ten thousand daffodils in a glance, which are going back and forth with the breeze. Here use of numbers is a exaggeration. So poet has used exaggeration in second stanza.

In third stanza poet is describing the joy which daffodils have in dancing with breeze. There is lake besides the daffodils and the waves in lake also danced. But daffodils out did the waves in happiness. Poet here says that he only can be happy in this delightful company of daffodils. The poet has very pleasurable scene in front of his eyes and he is gazing on it. Then he had thought that how much wealth this show has brought to him. The wealth is not material wealth. It is wealth of emotions and of joy. These daffodils has provided a great wealth to the poet.

In last stanza poet is at his home. Now he is talking about the nostalgia which daffodils gives him. He says that often when he is lying on his couch in relaxed mood, many times he see the daffodils from his inward eye. The picture of daffodils is in the mind of poet and he see it when he is in solitude. After seeing that picture of daffodils, poet’s heart fills with pleasure and it also started dancing with the daffodils.

The poem has 4 stanzas 6 lines each. It follows the ABABCC rhyme scheme. It has iambic tetrameter. In this poem poet has done personification of daffodils by calling them dancing in happiness.

AT the end we can say that this poem is about nature and how nature provides happiness to the human. Wordsworth also has given the definition of poetry and this poem is the best example of that definition.

Thank you.