I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud (The Daffodils) by William Wordsworth
Analysis
"I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud" is a poem written by William Wordsworth. Although this poem is named "I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud" it is also commonly referred to as "The Daffodils". The poem is about seeing a field of daffodils that "stretched in never-ending line" and now whenever he closes his eyes, he sees the daffodils and, he states, "then my heart with pleasure fills".
"I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud" is a four stanza poem with six lines in each. It is rhymed as ABABCC. It is written in iambic-tetrameter.
Poem
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.
Next: London, 1802