The Poem “I wandered lonely as a cloud” by William Wordsworth.
This poem is written as an appreciation of the daffodils and is believed to be Wordsworth’s personal experience with the daffodils. It has a structure of six lines in four stanzas. The first stanza is a description of the persona’s loneliness as he wondered beside a lake. His attention is suddenly drawn to the daffodils beside the lake described as swaying and dancing. The second and the third stanzas are about how the sight was so captivating and how the persona got glued on the spot, just staring at the daffodils with a lot of admiration. The fourth stanza is about the relief that natural sight of the flowers brought to the persona. Wherever he is sad, the memory of the sight restores joy in him.
This poem’s central theme is nature therapy, or inspiration one can get from nature, which by itself is curative. The poet points out how we can get inspired by nature if we take some time off our busy schedules and be with mother nature. This interaction with nature may bring with it a healing effect on our minds and body.
The poet has used several literary devices to aid bring out the main theme. For instance, he has used personification and simile in the first line of the poem. The poet likens himself to the cloud (simile) and, as a cloud (inanimate object), looks down at the valley and appreciates the daffodils. It is personification since the inanimate object (the cloud) possesses the human quality enabling it to see the daffodils. Personification is also evident in the daffodils’ description as tossing their heads and dancing and the mention of the waves as also dancing. Both the daffodils and the waves are gifted with the human quality of dancing. Furthermore, words such as heads company crowd, stretched, dancing, and fluttering personify the flowers. This has helped the poet bring out the main theme since it shows how nature can connect so much with us as though it were a person.
The poet has also employed the use of descriptive imagery in the poem. Images such as lakes, field, daffodils, and its comparison to the Milky Way galaxy are conspicuous in the poem. There is also color imagery such as white clouds, green hills, blue lakes, and silver stars to enhance picturesquely. This imagery engages the reader and helps demonstrate how nature’s sight can be so captivating and irresistible. This connects to the main theme of the poem. The poet is thus saying that life is not complete without the appreciation of nature. One can find joy and fulfillment in life if they learn not to be too busy to connect with the wonderful provisions of mother nature. The importance of imagery to this poem is very clear by the last stanza: when he remembers the images of the daffodils, he says, they fill his heart with pleasure. What solidifies the impact of imagery in this poem is the last stanza: he talks about how, at moments of solitude, he has only to remember the images of the daffodils to fill his heart with pleasure. The imagery of the daffodils, therefore, is meant to fill the heart with pleasure.
The poet looks at life as directly connected to nature. He sees that things usually neglected might be important components of life. It can be inferred from the poem that people usually take little or no importance to the beauty of nature. They see no connection between their life and nature. The poet’s personal experience with the daffodils is a demonstration of his belief about life. According to the author, the interwoven web of life has nature as one of its fabrics.