I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud

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

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:

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.

—William Wordsworth

Activity — Prompts for Reflection

What does the poem mean to you?

            The person was feeling alone when out walking, almost in despair when he came upon a spectacular site that caused him to be filled with joy and made him realize he was not alone at all.

Who is the speaker of the poem?

The poet himself

What circumstances gave rise to the poem?

The great feeling of joy that was felt upon viewing the daffodils and the fact that the author can close his eyes while on his couch and be reminded of the beautiful site which again fills his heart with joy.

What situation is presented?

            The situation of walking alone, as if just floating along, not paying attention and discovering something so incredibly beautiful that it becomes so ingrained in the viewers mind so that it is easily recalled and thus able to immediately bring joy to the heart over and over again.

What is the tone or mood of the poem?

The mood seems melancholy at first but then becomes joyful after the site of the daffodils.

Does the poem have a rhyme scheme?

It seems to have some rhyme but not in a sing-song way. For example, the last word in the first and third sentence in each stanza rhyme. And the last word in the second and last sentence rhyme. This continues throughout the poem.

What tense(s) does the narrator employ?

First tense

How does the poem make use of setting?

Through the description the author paints a picture of the scene.

Does the poem use imagery to achieve a particular effect?

Absolutely! The author describes how he is walking using the metaphor of floating clouds. He speaks of being alone when suddenly finding himself in a crowd, using crowd to describe the large volume of daffodils he has come upon. He describes them as out-doing the sparkling waves beside them. This description allows the reader to visualize the beauty of the span of daffodils.

In fact, while reading this, my mind wandered to visions of walking along the water and seeing this field of daffodils dancing so beautifully that their glory overshadowed the beauty of the sunlight glistening on the water. Wadsworth so elegantly crafted this poem that even a less than average reader could find himself imagining the scene.

Scope of Practice This is totally out of my scope of practice. While I love poetry and read it frequently, I would not have known to ask these questions about the poem. There were many more but I did not even know how to begin to answer them because I did not understand what the terminology was. I am sure I learned it somewhere back in high school but that was a very long time ago and has since been forgotten. Yet the love for the beauty of poetry and its ability to paint a picture for us with select and precise wording continues to exist and always will.

Poetry is a great way to open a workshop or close it and I will frequently read a short one that might be relevant to the group. But I would not be comfortable using it to analyze someone’s thoughts and feelings. And while I could teach someone to write a Haiku or 6-word memory, I could not teach them how to write an effective full-length poem.

 Freis,T. Poetry therapy seminar guide. Retrieved from http://toddharrisfries.weebly.com/uploads
             /5/1/9/9/5199097/poetry_therapy_seminar.pdf