I WANDERED LONELY AS A CLOUD

THE TITLE

The personal subject "I" underlines that the poet is the protagonist of the poem. The word "lonely" conveys the idea of his solitude: the poet is alone. The verb "wandered" is significant because it means "to go without a definite direction" and it is strictly connected to the word "cloud": a cloud moves in the sky because of the wind and therefore its direction is not definite but on the contrary changeable.

THE STRUCTURE

The poem is organized into 4 stanzas (sestets). The rhyme is ABABCC.

THE CONTENT

The character is the poet who represents also the speaking voice. The poet is walking through the country: the country is the typical setting of Romanticism because it is a source of man's inspiration. The poet says "I wandered lonely as a cloud": the repetition of the title underlines that he hasn't got a precise direction. The poet is walking when his interest is caught by a view: "when all at once I saw a crowd, a host, of golden daffodils": he describes carefully flowers' position and their movements. The poet describes the flowers as if they were living people using words like "crowd", "host", "fluttering" and "dancing".

In the second sestet the poet continues to describe the flowers: they are so many ("never-ending line", "ten thousand") that the reader can perceive the difference between poet's condition of solitude and the multitude of daffodils. In the last line "tossing their heads in sprightly dance" there is again a personification of the flowers.

In the third sestet the poet tells about his perception of daffodils: they seem very happy ("danced", "glee", "jocund company"). The speaking voice speaks about his thoughts in front of the scene: he feels himself enriched by the vision of the flowers.

The last stanza consists of a poet's reflection: he thinks about when he is alone and can "lie in vacant or pensive mood". In that moment his heart fills with pleasure and is happy ("dances with the daffodils").

CONCLUSIONS

In the poem there are a lot of perception verbs: they are central in Romantic poetry because Romantic poetry expresses the subjective emotional reaction of the speaking voice.

On the phonological level there are a lot of long and open sounds: they create a very wide dimension.

The reader can immediately imagine the scene because of the poet's appeal to visual aspects. All poet's linguistic and stylistic choices are useful to convey his personal feelings and emotions and to communicate a sense of dynamism. Nature seems to have life on its own.

The poem is written in simple past: it means that the poet is remembering a special moment in his life when he was emotionally involved. It follows that Romantic poetry is a record of memory.