Gedichtsbespreking Engels I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud

7.4

Gedichtbespreking door Mare
6e klas vwo | 1909 woorden
5 april 2022
5 keer beoordeeld

7.4

5 keer beoordeeld

Taal

Engels

Vak

Engels

1. Lyrics

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.

2. Summary and analysis

‘I wandered lonely as a cloud’ is about a poet wandering in nature alone, when he suddenly discovers a large field of daffodils by a lake. The experience makes him great joy and it turns into a happy memory for when he is lonely, sad or restless.

Line 1-2: “I wandered lonely as a cloud
That floats on high o'er vales and hills,”

The narrator walks alone, which makes him feels lonely. He compares himself to a single cloud in a big blue sky, floating over hills and valleys. Just like a cloud, he has no real purpose or direction to where he is going. The poet makes use of a simile in line 1 to emphasize his statement. In line 2, elision is used in “o’er” to continue the metre.
The consonance (rhyme of medeklinkers) of /l/ sounds links "lonely" and "cloud" together, reinforcing the idea of clouds as somehow isolated figures, prolonged in "floats," "vales," and "hills," Alliteration is used in ‘high’ and ‘hills’.

The second line continues this airiness, with the enjambment at the end of line 1 allowing the two lines together to breathe easily.

Line 3-4: “When all at once I saw a crowd,
A host, of golden daffodils;”

Then, the narrator suddenly comes across an enormous field full of yellow daffodils. A ‘crowd’ is usually used for a group of people, which means that the narrator is using personification on the daffodils.

Line 5-6: “Beside the lake, beneath the trees,
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.”

The large field is located beside the lake and under the trees. The flowers swung and shifted in the wind, which, according to the poet, made it seem like they were dancing and fluttering. This expression is a personification, used to set the scene. ‘Beneath’, ‘trees’, ‘breeze’ is assonance.

Line 7-10: “Continuous as the stars that shine
And twinkle on the milky way,

They stretched in never-ending line
Along the margin of a bay:”

The narrator compares the daffodils to the stars because the daffodil field goes on for so long alongside the lake that it looks like it is never ending, and because the flowers twinkle in the sun, just like the stars on the Milky Way. Symbolically, the daffodils being continuous conveys the everlasting impact they made on the narrator. This line contains two literary devices: a hyperbole and a simile. ‘Never-ending line’ is an example of a hyperbole, since this is impossible and it will end eventually, but the poet feels like it is never ending. ‘Continuous as the stars that shine’ is another example of a simile. ‘Twinkle’ and ‘milky’ and ‘stretched’ and ‘never-ending’ are instances of assonance. ‘Stars’ and ‘shine’ is alliteration. These lines all make use of enjambment.

Line 11-12: “Ten thousand saw I at a glance,
Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.”

The narrator guesses that there are more than ten thousand daffodils in the field. However, because it says that he saw ten thousand daffodils in one glance, line 11 is a hyperbole. The hyperbole is used to show the number of flowers in the field. The ‘heads’ of the daffodils, meaning the flower buds, swung in the wind. Line 12 is another personification of the flowers. The personification is used to illustrate the setting. ‘Ten thousand’ and ‘tossing’ is an alliteration.

Line 13-14: “The waves beside them danced; but they
Out-did the sparkling waves in glee:”

Because of the wind, there are also some waves on the water, glinting in the sun. The waves are personified, used again to illustrate the narrator’s surroundings. However, according to the narrator, the daffodils’ dance looked more joyful than the one of the waves. ‘Waves’ is repeated two times. These lines make use of enjambment.

Line 15-16: A poet could not but be gay,
In such a jocund company:”

A poet, like William Wordsworth himself, could not help being happy when having such cheerful surroundings like that.

Line 17-18: “I gazed—and gazed—but little thought
What wealth the show to me had brought:”

At the time, the narrator just gazed at the daffodil field for a long time, not thinking about anything else. While looking at them, he did not realise the full extent of the positive effects of encountering the flowers yet. ‘Gazed’ and ‘gazed’ is a repetition. ‘What wealth’ is an alliteration. These lines make use of enjambment.

Line 19-24 “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.”

Now, the narrator does know how much happiness the daffodils have brought him. Whenever he is lonely or in a bad mood now, he thinks of daffodils again in his ‘inward eye’; in his imagination. His heart then fills with joy again and dances with the daffodils. Line 24 is an alliteration, which makes the final sentence sound powerful. ‘Which’, ‘bliss’ and ‘solitude’ is assonance. The first four lines make use of enjambment.

3. Structure

The form of ‘I wandered lonely as a cloud’ is relatively simple. It consists of four sestets (six-line stanzas), making up for 24 lines total. However, the poem only consists of four sentences, due to the poet’s use of colons, semi-colons, and commas. Each stanza is a sentence since each last sentence of the stanza ends with a period.

The rhyme scheme is consistent throughout the poem; each stanza has ABABCC as rhyme scheme. Combined with the six-line stanzas, this makes it a sestain. The last two lines of each stanza thus form a rhyming couplet, which provides a sense of closure after the previous flowing lines.

The poem follows the metre of an iambic tetrameter (4 syllables) throughout most of the poem, with the exception of line 6, 7 and 12. In line 6 and 12, this symbolizes the daffodils dancing.

4. Romanticism and romantic themes

This poem was written during the Romantic period. The Romantic period was the time period between 1729-1830, and it is known for its viewpoints of society, literature and philosophy. Just like other time periods, the Romantic era started off with a lot of societal changes.

The first societal change was the French Revolution. The French Revolution was an uprising in France against the monarchy which led to France being a republic. Wordsworth initially supported the French revolution, since it claimed to lead to liberty, brotherhood, and equality. Wordsworth believed that to truly be free, you should spend a lot of time in nature. While the French revolution did lead to people expressing their emotions more freely, many other expectations were not met, and also led to many wars. That’s why after the French Revolution, Wordsworth’s work transitioned from being about natural experiences to facing the realities and ills of life. ‘I wandered lonely as a cloud’ is still an example of one of his poems about natural experiences. This poem also shows the freedom of expressing emotions after the French Revolution; Wordsworth shows a lot of emotion over just a daffodil field.
Secondly, the Romantic Era known for the reappreciation of nature. This was, for the main part, a reaction to the Industrial Revolution; a period of major industrialization and innovation that took place during the late 1700s and early 1800s. People had become alienated from nature due to the massive industrialization of many towns. Not everyone was happy with this change, which lead to many people somehow going back to natural environments. The Romantics saw nature seen as pure and a spiritual source of renewal. In ‘I wandered lonely as a cloud’, the reappreciation for nature is shown, such as how Wordsworth is visibly thankful for the daffodil field. The daffodilsymbolizes rebirth and new beginnings. It became associated with new beginnings (and the coming of spring) because it is one of the first perennial plants to bloom after the winter.
Thirdly, in the Romantic period, the importance of imagination and memory as emphasized. The Romantics believed that the imagination was a source of creativity and art. In this poem, we see that Wordsworth can imagine what the daffodils looked like, which gives him as much joy as the first time he saw them. It is also known that while the poem was written in 1804, Wordsworth took the actual walk in 1802; two years later, he finally knew how to put the experience to words.

5. Themes

The themes that were prominent in the Romantic era and in this poem are:

Awe of nature. Why this theme is important for the poem is obvious. The appreciation of nature is what sparked the making of the poem in the first place and is the main theme of the poem.
Strong senses, emotions, and feelings. Not everyone looks at a field of daffodils and gets this great variety of feelings like Wordsworth does. Wordsworth seems to be a man with strong senses, emotions and feelings, being so happy with a field of daffodils, that he could leave his feelings of sadness and melancholy behind
Celebration of the individual, the notion of ‘self’. Wordsworth is alone in nature and is very focused on his own senses and emotions about the daffodils.
Importance of imagination. But the daffodils were not only great when Wordsworth saw them, he still enjoys them after he saw them and is back at home. Wordsworth has a visual imagination, and therefore can easily imagine the daffodil field again in his mind.

6. Tone

Lyric, exaggerated, grateful, positive, optimistic, astonished.

7. William Wordsworth

William Wordsworth (1770-1851) was an English Romantic poet. He introduced Romanticism in England. He was born in Cockermouth in England and primarily brought up by his mother’s parents, although he was very unhappy there and contemplated suicide. In 1791, Wordsworth visited Revolutionary France and fell in love with a French woman, Annette Vallon. They conceived a child together, but Wordsworth returned to England alone because of financial problems and Britain's tense relations with France. In 1802, Wordsworth married his childhood friend Mary Hutchinson, with whom he conceived five children. He died in 1851 because of pleurisy.