MB UNIUD

I WANDERED LONELY AS A CLOUD

Just considering the title the reader can make some hypothesis about the message the poet wants to send. Fist of all it focuses the reader's attention on the personal pronoun I and on the adjective alone. The reader can easily understand that the poem that he is going to read is a lyrical poem, in which the poet will express his loneliness. Another important term of the title is cloud. It reminds us to the natural elements, always present in the Romantic poetry and so also in Wordsworth's poem.

The poem is organised in four stanzas, each one is made up of six lines. In the first one the poem, the poem begins telling his memory and describing the natural landscape in which he was walking and especially he introduces the object of the poem: the daffodils, that are fluttering and dancing. In the second stanza he goes on describing the multitude of flowers and he compares them to the stars that twinkle in the sky. The third stanza describes for the first time the effects of the sight of the daffodils and of their memory on the poet. They are his jocund company, even if he can understand the wealth the gave him just now (because he remembers that experience) and not when he was between them. His reflection goes on in the fourth stanza, in which he defines his memory the bliss of the solitude, because when he remembers that experience his heart dance as the daffodils.

We can find some important aspects in the poem. First of all the presence of the personal pronoun "I", that underlines that the subject of the composition is not the natural element, the daffodils or the experience. It is the "I", instead. As a matter of fact the poet focus the readers attention on his reaction to the experience and not on the experience itself. The experience is filtered by the speaking voice, who uses it in order to express his emotions and feelings. The pronoun "I" is also key-word of a semantic field, made up of terms dealing with solitude, loneliness and wandering, typical elements of the romantic poet.

The second semantic field is about the experience he had in the nature. It is made of all words dealing with natural elements (daffodils, trees, hills, lake, waves, stars...) and of the terms referring to the nice emotions the speaking voice feels (joy, pleasure, company...).

There is a contraposition between the two semantic areas: the fist on describes the sad and distressing situation of the romantic man, while the second underlines the joy and company of nature, who seems not to feel this sort of sadness and solitude.

So he propose a solution to the human being's problems: nature can become his company and represent the solution of his loneliness and sadness.

The poem presents the most important features of romantic poetry. They especially deal with its themes. It soars imagination, passion, emotional intensity, freshness of individual experience and a deep sense of myth and mystery in natural events.

Love and worship of Nature and dislike for the urban life is present also in Wordsworth' poem. As a matter of fact he describes a natural landscape that represent his source of joy. Poetry came to be regarded as the spontaneous expression of the poet's own subjective feelings. Also in I Wandered Alone as a Cloud the speaking voice focuses his attention on his emotions and not on the experience itself. Romantic poetry is also characterised by love for the supernatural and the mystical, that is not present in the text.

Besides Romantic poetry was often written in common everyday language for all to relate. Also this poem has the same feature. The poet wants to distinguish himself because of the experience he had and of the feelings, the wealth it gives him, and not because of his language.