The Daffodils by William Wordsworth (Poem & Summary & Analysis)

 

The Daffodils

by William Wordsworth

(Poem & Summary & Analysis)

  

William Wordsworth was born on 7th of April, 1770 at Cockermouth. His father was John Wordsworth and mother was Anne Cookson. He was second of the five children of his parents, the others being Richard, Dorothy, John and Christopher. He was educated at Hawkshead Grammar School and St. John College, Cambridge from where he did his B.A. in 1791. He went to France in 1791 and stayed there for a period of one year. During this time he was greatly influenced by the French Revolution which was at its peak at that time in France. He published his first volume of poems in 1793. In 1795 he got a chance to meet S.T. Coleridge and soon they became life time friends. Wordsworth along with his sister, Dorothy and S.T. Coleridge with his wife were neighbours to each other at Alfoxden and Stowey in Somerset for one year. In 1798, both the poets together published Lyrical Ballads which is considered to be an epoch-making collection of lyrical romantic poems whose preface along with the poems appearing in it attracted a lot of public attention. In 1802, he married Mary Hutchinson of Penrith. In 1805 he completed The Prelude which was published after his death on 23rd April 1850. In 1807 he moved to Rydal Mount, Grasmere and lived there till his death. In 1843 he became the Poet Laureate after the death of Robert Southey.

In France, when the French Revolution was at its peak, Wordsworth felt attracted to it. The aim of the French Revolution was to abolish the kingship and aristocracy and to give full authority to the common man. Rousseau a well-known French writer and who is also known as “the father of Romanticism”. Rousseau once said, that man is born free but he is chained everywhere. Time has come now to do away with the kingship and aristocracy. It would be best for the man to give all the powers to the common man. Wordsworth supported the purpose of the French Revolution whole-heartedly. When England prepared herself to fight against Napoleon, he went to Church and prayed there sincerely for the defeat of England, his own motherland. Throughout his life, he was unable to shed away the influence of the French Revolution and Rousseau on his poetry. From Rousseau and the French Revolution Wordsworth learnt to glorify the life of the common man. He also learnt to love and respect nature. The relation between nature and man became the main theme of his poetry. In being the poet of nature, he also became the poet of the common man.

On April 15, 1802 Wordsworth and his sister Dorothy went to their friends, the Clarksons, at Eusemere. When they were coming back to Grasmere, they saw a large number of golden daffodils growing on the bank of a lake Ullswater in the Lake district. They both were astonished by the mesmeric beauty of these daffodils which were fluttering and dancing with the light breeze. Inspired by this delightful spectacle Wordsworth composed this poem in 1804 and published it in 1807.

THE DAFFODILS

(The Poem)

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.

 

Summary

In the poem, the poet is alone and having nature in mind, wandering from one place to another like a cloud, which flies over vales and hills with the wind. All of a sudden, he sees a large number of golden daffodils, which are growing on the bank of the lake under the trees. A light breeze is blowing, making the daffodils flutter and dance with it.

For the poet, the view of these beautiful golden daffodils is similar to the stars shining and twinkling in the milky-way. As far as the poet can see, he finds only the daffodils growing along the margin of a bay and they seem to the poet to be in very large numbers. All of these flowers are tossing their heads in a sprightly dance.

In the nearby lake, the waves are dancing with the wind and sparkling because of the sun-rays falling on them. But the beauty of the golden daffodils is so attractive and charming that it easily surpasses the beauty of the dancing and sparkling waves. The poet feels happy and blessed in such an enchanting and cheerful company. The poet is completely absorbed in the beauty of the daffodils and for the moment he has lost touch with his surroundings. He considers himself fortunate and very happy that he has been the witness to such a wonderful sight of the daffodils. Later, whenever the poet is thinking of not being busy, lying on his couch the daffodils flash upon his imagination. The memory of the daffodils not only fills his heart with pleasure but also has a refreshing effect on him and he feels like dancing along with the daffodils.

Analysis

For Wordsworth, there is nothing which is superior to and better than Nature. He breathes through with nature and finds solace and spiritual peace in it. In his opinion, nature has the solution for all the problems of mankind. It is through nature that he seeks salvation. The theme of the poem, “Daffodils” is based on the healing and refreshing power of nature. How easy it is for nature to lift the spirit and the morale of the man. The poem is rich in imagery and the description of the daffodils is delightful. The poet starts the poem with the simile and compares himself with the cloud, wandering lonely, free from duty and responsibility, here and there like the cloud. But as soon as he sees the beautiful golden daffodils, growing along the margin of a bay beneath the trees, dancing and fluttering with the light breeze, he finds himself captivated by their magical beauty.

The poet is so impressed by their beauty that the near-by lake whose waves are also dancing and sparkling, thus looking enchanting, also captivate his attention. The poet begins to admire the mesmeric beauty of the daffodils and is unable to think of anything else. In fact, at that time he could not think of the great importance of the scene for him but later while lying on his couch he realizes the great importance, the scene had on him.

The last stanza of the poem is the essence of the poem. In this stanza, the poet speaks about the healing and refreshing effect of nature and also praises solitude. According to him, when one is in the state of solitude, one becomes retrospective and meditates on all the good and pleasurable moments which one had or which had happened to him-in his life. These memories have a cheerful and lively effect on him. He feels happy not only with himself but also with all that happened to him. The poet says that whenever he lies on his couch in solitude having nothing to do or in pensive mood, the images of the daffodils flash upon his imagination. When this happens, the poet feels calm, refreshed, motivated and good about himself. This is how nature influences him. The memories of the daffodils fill his heart with pleasure and joy and he feels like dancing along with the daffodils. This shows the healing and refreshing effect of nature on the poet.

The original title of the poem “I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud” is merely the first line of the poem. It is somewhat misleading, as it suggests that there is something about the poet’s loneliness in the poem. But the poem is all about the beauty of the daffodils and how they brought happiness to the poet. So, some anthologists including Palgrave titled this poem as “Daffodils” or “The Daffodils” in their collections.

This poem is a representative of Romanticism in English literature. The poem is very simple in form and language. Four stanzas of six lines each, makes the entire poem 24 lines long. The rhyme scheme for each stanza is ababcc. The poem is rich in its use of figures of speech.

It is a great example of a ‘real poem’, that is ‘a spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings’, as opined by the poet himself. As, the poem expresses the feelings of the poet himself, it is a subjective poem, one of the most important characteristics of Romanticism.