My views on I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud

陳菲

Abstract：I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud” was written by William Wordsworth，the representative poet of the early romanticism. As a great poet of nature，William Wordsworth was the first to find words for the most elementary sensations of man face to face with natural phenomena. These sensations are universal and old but，once expressed in his poetry，become charmingly beautiful and new. His deep love for nature runs through short lyrics such as “I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud”.

William Wordsworth is the leading of the English romantic movement in poetry. He had made outstanding contributions to the theory creation. He observes that “good poetry is the spontaneous overflow of powerful feeling” and poetry originates from “emotion recollected in tranquility”. These principles help to create many great poems and also inspire a new generation of poets. I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud is one of his masterpieces on nature. In this passage，I will analyze this poem from five aspects.

Firstly，I want to introduce the content of this poem. In this poem，William Wordsworth brings us into a beautiful world where there are daffodils，trees and breeze. When we read this poem，we can realize the great power of nature. The poet is wandering and he discovered a field of daffodils by a lake. The first two stanzas described the beautiful scenery of nature. The third stanza focuses on poets feeling：happy and peace. The last stanza suggests the harmony of the outer and inner worlds of the poet. And I think the last stanza reflects the theme of this poetry.

Secondly，William Wordsworth uses many images in this poem. The biggest image is daffodil. It runs through the whole poem. In stanza 1，the poet mention that the daffodil “dancing in the breeze”. In stanza 2，the description of the daffodil becomes more vivid：“Tossing their heads in sprightly dance”. In stanza 3，the poet immediately adds the daffodil” out-did the sparkling waves in glee.

Thirdly，the most impression on me is the meter of poem. In this poetry，he uses great forms to achieve sound beauty. He employs distinctive rhyme in" a b a b c c "pattern to achieve the rhyme. For example，the last letter of the last word in every line.（cloud-a，hills-b，crowd-a，daffodil-b，trees-a，breeze-c）In addition，he uses the alliteration. For example，"the float on high oer vales and hills" in line 2 and "besides the lake，beneath the tree" in line 5.

Fourthly，William Wordsworth expressed his emotion by his thoughtful tone. In my opinion，the choice of the word" lonely" in" I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud "instead of other word is to express the poets depression at the very beginning. But his loneliness turns into relaxation by the sight of daffodils in the midst of nature. This shift indicates the theme-the great influence of nature upon human being.

Lastly，I want to talk the theme of this poetry. The poem expressed the poets love and respect for nature. Especially showed that his joy at the sight of the beautiful daffodils. He wanted to express the natures beautys influence on human beings.

In a word，the poem implies the relationship between the nature and human beings. This poem reflects his feelings by many skills. I think he could be recognized as the greatest poet in romantic period.