I Wandered Lonely

as a Cloud
William Wordsworth

Presentation by:
Kenilyn Rose E. Caluste
AUTHOR

WILLIAM WORDSWORTH
William Wordsworth was
born on April 17, 1770, just
outside the Lake District in the
quaint market town of Cocker
mouth, Cumbria.
 WILLIAM WORDSWORTH
 He was one of the greatest romantic poets in the 19th – century
England
 He belongs to the Romantic school of poetry.
 Poets of this school are very interested in nature, which has a
great effect on their poetry.
 Studied at Cambridge University
 Death Date: April 23, 1850
I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud
-William Wordsworth-
 I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud

I wandered lonely as a cloud Continuous as the stars that shine

That floats on high o'er vales and hills, And twinkle on the milky way,
When all at once I saw a crowd, They stretched in never-ending line
A host, of golden daffodils; Along the margin of a bay:
Beside the lake, beneath the trees, Ten thousand saw I at a glance,
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze. Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.
 I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud

The waves beside them danced; but they For oft, when on my couch I lie
Out-did the sparkling waves in glee: In vacant or in pensive mood,
A poet could not but be gay, They flash upon that inward eye
In such a jocund company: Which is the bliss of solitude;
I gazed—and gazed—but little thought And then my heart with pleasure fills,
What wealth the show to me had brought: And dances with the daffodils.
I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud
INTRODUCTION
(about the poem)
❖ William Wordsworth's " I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud " also
known as “ The daffodils ” is a lyric poem focusing on the
poet's response to the beauty of nature.
❖ The final version of the poem was first published in Collected
Poems in 1815. An earlier version was published in Poems in
Two Volumes in 1807 as a three-stanza poem. The final
version has four stanzas.
.
I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud

SETTING AND BACKGROUND INFORMATION

The poem recaptures a moment on
April 15, 1802 when Wordsworth and his
sister, Dorothy, were walking near Lake
Ullswater in Grasmere, Cambria County,
England and came across a "long belt" of
golden daffodils.

Wordsworth’s sister, Dorothy, played an important part

in his life and she also influenced him with her love of nature.
I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud
RHYME, FORM & METER
I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud

RHYME, FORM & METER

 "I wandered lonely as a Cloud" has a fairly simple form that fits
its simple and folksy theme and language. It consists of four
stanzas with six lines each, for a total of 24 lines.
 The rhyme scheme is also simple: ABABCC. The last two lines of
each stanza rhyme like the end of a Shakespearean sonnet, so
each stanza feels independent and self-sufficient.
FIGURES OF SPEECH
I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud

FIGURES OF SPEECH
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.
I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud

FIGURES OF SPEECH
SIMILE
‘I wondered lonely as a cloud.’
The poet compares himself to a cloud walking without an aim.

ALLITERATION
Line 2: ‘That floats on high o’er vales and hills’
The ‘h’ sound as in high, and hills.

Line 5: ‘Beside the lake, beneath the trees’

The ‘b’ sound as in beside, and beneath.
I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud

FIGURES OF SPEECH
METAPHOR
‘Golden daffodils’
The poet compares the yellow daffodils to gold in their bright color.

PERSONIFICATION
‘Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.’
The poet personifies the daffodils to people who can move and
dance.
I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud

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

FIGURES OF SPEECH
SIMILE
‘Continuous as the stars that shine’
- The poet compares the daffodils to stars in their huge number and
their shiny appearance.

PERSONIFICATION
‘Tossing their heads in sprightly dance’
- The poet personifies the daffodils as human beings moving their
heads quickly.
I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud

FIGURES OF SPEECH
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:
I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud
FIGURES OF SPEECH
PERSONIFICATION
‘The waves beside them danced; but they
Out-did the sparkling waves in glee:’
- The poet personifies the waves as human beings dancing and
feeling happy.

ALLITERATION
-Line 1: The ‘b’ sound as in beside, and but.
-Line 1: The ‘th’ sound as in the, them and they.
-Line 6: The ‘w’ sound as in what, and wealth.
I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud

FIGURES OF SPEECH
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.
I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud
FIGURES OF SPEECH
PERSONIFICATION
‘my heart …. dances with the daffodils’
-The poet personifies his heart as a human being who is dancing.

ALLITERATION
-Line 1: The ‘o’ sound as in often and on.
-Line 3: The ‘th’ sound as in they and that.
-Line 6: The ‘d’ sound as in dances and daffodils.
 I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud
FIGURES OF SPEECH
APOSTROPHE
“I saw a crowd, A host, of golden daffodils; ”
-The poet apostrophizes the daffodils and describes them in their large
number as a crowd of people.

“In such a jocund company”

-The poets addresses the flowers as human beings and describes them
as a happy company of good friends.
 I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud
FIGURES OF SPEECH
REPETITION
In third stanza, the poet repeated the word “ gazed ” two times.
The word “ dance ” is repeated 3 times in this poem. In the 1st stanza, it
denotes the happiness and liveliness of the flowers. In the 2nd stanza, it
creates a sense of harmonious relationship between the daffodils and
the waves. In the last stanza, it refers that this harmony is advanced to
include the poet himself.
LEXICAL PATTERN
 I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud

LEXICAL PATTERN
❖In first stanza, The poet used contrast between “lonely” and
“crowd” & “o’er “ and “ beneath”. The poet used contrast to stress
and emphasize the meaning.

❖This poem contains four stanza and all are talking about poet’s
imagination on nature. Poet use maximum nature related words. The
poet describes nature by describing the daffodils and comparing them
to stars and waves.
 I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud

LEXICAL PATTERN
❖He is also writing about himself in relation to nature.
“Nature is a source of happiness.”
 Nature of
Literary Communication
I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud

Nature of Literary Communication

❑In this poem, poet himself is an addresser or sender.
Through the whole poem, poet explaining his thought as
monologue.
❑There is no addressee appears in this poem. Poet
directly talking with his audience and sharing his feeling
and thought about nature (daffodils). So, we are the
receiver here.
Grammar and Sentence
 I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud

Grammar and Sentence

 William Wordsworth uses a complete sentence with
subject and predicate.
 The title of the poem itself is in a complete sentence.
Aside from using complete sentences, the author also
makes a vivid description of the daffodils by using
several predicate to describe the scenery.
 I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud

Grammar and Sentence

 There are six sentences Unit and Trunk in the entire

poem.
 Wordsworth likes to begin each stanza by using a
complete sentence and he expands it by using
elaborate predicates and clauses.
I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud
I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud

SEMANTIC ANALYSIS
 The poet starts his poem by painting a picture of himself
walking aimlessly, like a cloud in the sky when suddenly he saw
a group of beautiful golden daffodils.
 This whole poem was powers of imagination. Whatever he say,
all came from his imagination. By his imagination power,
William Wordsworth wrote this romantic poem where we find
his romance with nature.
MAIN THEME
OF THE POEM
I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud

MAIN THEME OF THE POEM

 Nature' s beauty uplifts the human spirit .
 Theme of happiness: “Fluttering and dancing in the
breeze,” maybe the poem just makes us feel good about life
by using the power of imagination .
 Theme of loneliness: 'I wandered lonely as a cloud,' that
could be affected by daily routines.
I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud

MAIN THEME OF THE POEM

 Theme of rejecting city life and going back to the
Mother Nature.
 Memory and the Past: The poet can always draw on his
imagination to reproduce the joy of the event and to
remember the spiritual wisdom that it provided.
 Powers of imagination.
CITY LIFE VS. NATURE
I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud

CITY LIFE VS. NATURE

 Wordsworth try to explain the difference between city life
and nature (rural). Through the lines, the shift of the poet
feelings is very clear.
 Firstly, he complains about the corrupted world, which
lacks cooperation and harmony, so he wanders lonely
and hopeless.
I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud

CITY LIFE VS. NATURE

 He prefers to get away from other people as if being with
them brings him nothing but more sadness and
loneliness.
 However, seeing the golden daffodils cheered him up
because they welcomed him. "A host, of golden daffodils"
shows that the poet ran away from city life and took nature
as a shelter to protect him from the world's corruption.
References
Spark Notes (2010). I Wandered Lonely As a Cloud. Retrieved from
http://www.sparknotes.com/poetry/wordsworth/section7.rht

Mathew, P. (1997). Academy of American poets. [Web log post]. Retrieved from
http://www.poets.org/poet.php/prmPID/2968

Samuel, K. (N.P). Biography of William Wordsworth. BBC. Retrieved from

http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/wordsworth_w
Any
question?
Thank You !

- KR Caluste