Daffodils
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.
I. About the Poem
The words 'Daffodils' and 'Wordsworth' go hand in hand with each other. This is the one of the most famous poems in the English language, and it was composed in 1804, two years after Wordsworth saw the flowers while walking by Ulls water on a stormy day with Dorothy, his sister. His inspiration for the poem came from an account written by Dorothy. In her journal entry for 15 April 1802 she describes how the daffodils 'tossed and reeled and danced, and seemed as if they verily laughed with the wind, that blew upon them over the lake.' Wordsworth published his poem, I wandered lonely as a Cloud, in 1807. He altered it several times, and the final version, published in 1815, is simply a revision of the original, the new lines and vocabulary perhaps reflecting the changes in his lifestyle and where he saw himself in the social hierarchy.
Although Wordsworth's 'Daffodils' is one of the most famous and widely read poems in the English language, daffodils were probably not Wordsworth's favorite flower. He wrote no less than three poems about the tiny Common Pile wort (Celandine) which blossoms in early spring.
Works Cited （参考文献）
II. About the Author
William Wordsworth was born on April 7,
1770 and died on April 23, 1850.
He was a major English Romantic poet who,
with Samuel Taylor Coleridge, helped to launch the Romantic Age in English
literature with their joint publication
Lyrical Ballads in 1798.
Wordsworth's magnum opus is generally
considered to be The Prelude, a semi auto biographical poem of his early years
that he revised
and expanded a number of times.
It was posthumously titled and published,
before which it was generally known as "the poem to Coleridge".
Wordsworth was Britain's Poet Laureate from
1843 until his death from pleurisy on 23 April 1850.
Works Cited （参考文献）
IV. My Reaction
A. Reaction Point - ｒｈｙｔｈｍ(リズム）
- In this poem, Wordsworth uses good rhythms. Rhythm is the reaction of long and short or stressed and unstressed syllables.
- 1.I wandered lonely as a Cloud～ 2.Continuous as the stars that shine And twinkle on the milky way～ 3.The waves beside them danced; but they Out-did the sparkling waves in glee～ 4.For oft when on my couch I lie In vacant or in pensive mood
- This poem separates four paragraphs it is good balance.
B. Reaction Point - imagery(自分の想像で絵を作成し、視覚的に記述言語、想像）
- This poem has many imagery it makes people do. Imagery is visually descriptive language that creates pictures in one's imagination.There is my favorite imagery expression in this 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.
- The expression makes us imagine that we are walking along the way at the part very much and meet beautiful daffodils suddenly.
C. Reaction Point - personification(擬人化）
- In this poem, Wordsworth uses many personifications. Personification is giving human characteristics to something non human. There are three personifications I like in this poem.
- Beside the lake, beneath the trees, Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.
- 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.
- Wordsworth uses personification to show the daffodils flutter in the wind and those are beautiful.
D. My General Opinion
I like this poem because it shows beauty of
the daffodils and I can imagine that I am walking the way where the flowers are blooming.
I think Wordsworth writes that it was actually experienced .
Because this poem is very real.
But there is a question. Why the person in
this poem was wandering lonely?
I want to know this reason.
And I read this poem, I want to read more.
Wordsworth's poems and know the person. So I think I'll examine the things.
