The daffodils PDF

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Daffodils Wordsworth ...

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I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud by William Wordsworth 1804

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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.

Continuous as the stars that shine And twinkle on the milky way, They stretched in never-ending line 10 Along the margin of a bay: Ten thousand saw I at a glance, Tossing their heads in sprightly dance. 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:

- l.1 speaker opens poem (placing himself in the centre); - l.2 cloud -> above; speaker projects himself above the world, alone, as an individual; floating – wandering, waiting for what comes next - l.3 Suddenly, unexpectedly, not waited for; uncountable mass - l.4 golden – adds value to the surprising image - ll. 5-6 description, moving image – supported by couplet rhyme - ll. 7-8 Enjambement – perfect connection to the meaning of the two lines (continuous) - l. 9 never-ending – the word the Enjambement prepared us for - l.11 a number unimaginable in that time - l.12 personification, makes daffodils vivid/human - l.14 light-metaphor

→ images: image of mass -> host; image of value -> golden; image of movement -> tossing and dancing; image of endlessness -> continuous as the stars, milky way; image of light -> twinkle

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.

- no sonnet but a simple text that borrows structures from folk-songs (crossing rhyme, couplet rhyme ending the quatrain; metre: iambic tetrameter)

- idea: bring literature back to (educated) simple people - closeness between speaker/author - topic: poem takes us into nature; interaction speaker – nature; about reflection of nature...