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COMPILED BY- Chitvan Kaur

*Please Note- These notes have been compiled from various Internet sources with minor alterations by me. Thus,
students are advised to use them for reference purpose only and to create their own versions of answers.

DAFFODILS
~William Wordsworth

IMPORTANT WORDS AND THEIR MEANINGS

1. margin – edge, periphery

2. sprightly – agile, energetic

3. sparkling – shining brightly

4. outdid – surpassed, excelled, outclassed

5. gazed – saw

6. glee – delight, joy:- gay – happy, glad, pleased;

7. jocund – cheerful

8. vacant – empty

9. pensive – sad, melancholy

10. bliss – ecstasy, great pleasure

11. solitude – loneliness, seclusion.

ABOUT THE POEM

The poem ‘Daffodils’ or ‘I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud’ is one of the loveliest and best-known
poems of William Wordsworth. The poem was written in the year 1802. It was first published in
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“Poems in Two Volumes” in 1807. The very starting line of the poem “I wandered lonely as a
cloud” informs the poet’s profound sentiments of being left alone. It was actually the death of his
brother John that led him to “loneliness.” The poem was thus not a result of imagination, but that
of actual visualization.

CENTRAL IDEA

The poem Daffodils is an ode to nature. The Central idea is that all of us are so caught up in the
nitty gritty of our everyday chores and life that we forget to stop for a moment and imbibe the
beauty of nature.
The poem is very pertinent specially in these modern times, when everyone is literally thinking,
breathing of money. It tells us that one should pause for a moment, stop endless pursuit for
material things and soak in the beauty of nature.
The poet feels that nature has the power to heal one's soul, when one is in a melancholy mood,
feeling depressed, stressed out (again evils of the rat race), instead of turning to other things like
substance abuse, alcohol, smoking etc. One should turn to Nature. Nature has powers to soothe
the stressed-out mind, make you calm and cool. By just looking at a garden full of flowers, birds,
and trees uplifts our mind and spirits and once again one feels rejuvenated.
The message from the Poet and the central ideal is that we should pay more attention to nature
and spend more time with Mother Nature.

THEME

Throughout ‘I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud’ Wordsworth engages with themes of nature,

memory, and spirituality. These three are tied together as the speaker, Wordsworth himself,
moves through a beautiful landscape.

The poem Daffodils is the depiction of natural beauty. As William Wordsworth was a poet of
romantic era; he depicts beauty of nature in his poem using beautiful imagery and language full
of figurative tools. He personifies beauty and use couple of similes to make the wording
appealing. He takes pleasure in the sight of the daffodils and revives his spirit in nature. At the
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same time, Wordsworth explores the theme of memory, as he does in other works such
as ‘Tintern Abbey.’ The flowers are there to comfort him in real-time and as a memory from the
past.

TITLE JUSTIFICATION

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.

The title, ‘Daffodils’ is a simple word that reminds us of the arrival of spring, when the field is
full of daffodils. Daffodils are yellow flowers, having an amazing shape and beautiful fragrance.
A bunch of daffodils symbolize the joy and happiness of life. The poet says that 'For oft' during
his leisure time, he thinks of the daffodils. He has in a way, created memories with nature the
way one creates memories with a best friend. In the poem too, whenever the poet is in a 'vacant
or pensive mood', his mind goes back to the sight of the daffodils, which fills his 'heart with
pleasure' and uplifts his spirits. That is precisely what a best friend would do- cheer one up.

SUMMARY

In this article, you will be reading Daffodils Summary. It is one of the best- known works of the
most influential English Romantic poet, William Wordsworth. The poem was composed in the
year 1802. The endless view of the golden daffodils in a field across the lake filled him with joy.
This view was the greatest gift of nature to him. Whenever he remembers it, his depressed mind
and heart find the joy of living again.

In the first stanza, the writer finds himself as a lonely cloud floating over the valley. The author
describes himself ‘lonely’ because his brother John was dead, leaving him alone and sad. Then
he encountered the yellow daffodils beside the lake. The flowers were swaying here and there
due to the heavy breeze, as if they were dancing happily.
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Second stanza is about how amazing the daffodils looked in the spring season. The author found
those flowers like stars which shined and twinkled in the night sky. They were nodding their
heads while dancing. Then Wordsworth expressed that these beautiful flowers stood in a never-
ending line. He felt an illusion that he is watching all ten thousand of flowers altogether in a
glance.

Third stanza is the continuation of how along with the flowers, the water in the lake too moved,
as if they were competing with each other in the dance. But the glee flowers won and the
sparkling lake lost. Finding their playfulness, the author couldn’t stop himself from joining their
company. The author kept staring at both of them, wondering how his sad mood changed into a
happy one. The daffodils and lake’s dance bought him a wealth that he couldn’t deny. The
mesmerizing flowers gained a place in his heart he couldn’t understand but felt.

The last or the fourth stanza is narration of what pleasure the author had gained after watching
the daffodils dancing that day. Whenever the author, Wordsworth felt sad or alone, the picture of
dancing daffodils came to his mind and it was like he regained life’s treasure. How valuable the
solitude is! At the end, author’s heart was content in joining the daffodils’ dance.

RHYMING SCHEME

The ‘Daffodils’ has a rhyming scheme throughout the poem. The rhyming scheme of the poem is
‘ABABCC‘.

LITERARY TERMS

1. Personification
I wander’d lonely as a cloud – The first line makes nice use of personification and simile.
The poet assumes himself to be a cloud (simile) floating in the sky. When Wordsworth
says in the second line ‘I’ (poet as a cloud) look down at the valleys and mountains and
appreciate the daffodils; it’s the personification, where an inanimate object (cloud)
possesses the quality of a human enabling it to see the daffodils.
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Tossing their heads in sprightly dance – use of personification, daffodils are tossing their
heads like humans, expressing their emotion of happiness through dance (it gives
liveliness to the poem).

The waves beside them danced – Along with flowers, waves too are gifted with the
human quality to dance.

The words used in the poem like crowd, fluttering, dancing, stretched, heads, company,
etc. are giving the flowers, daffodils human qualities.

2. Simile
Continuous as the stars that shine, and twinkle on the milky way – use of simile, daffodils
looked like twinkling stars on the milky way, thus connecting nature with the universe.

3. Hyperbole
The line “Ten thousand saw I at a glance” is an exaggeration and a hyperbole, describing
the scene of ten thousand daffodils, all together.

They stretched in never-ending line – the flowers are spread everywhere in a line;
significance of vastness is explained.

4. Alliteration
Alliteration is the repetition of similar sounds, is applied for the word ‘h’, in the words
– high and hills.

5. Metaphor
The daffodils represent ‘nature’.
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6. Imagery
The poem paints images of lakes, fields, trees, stars in Ullswater. Wordsworth
continuously praises the daffodils, comparing them to the Milky Way galaxy (in the
second stanza), their dance (in the third stanza) and in the concluding stanza, dreams to
join the daffodils in their dance. Use of colors i.e., white (cloud), green (hills), blue
(lake), silver (stars) etc. enhance the picturesque. The poem starts in pessimism (author’s
loneliness) and ends in optimism (pleasure of watching daffodils). Thus, Wordsworth’s
imagination is a major factor of romanticism.

STANZA BY STANZA EXPLAINATION

STANAZA 1

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.

The poet was travelling aimlessly just like a cloud over the hills and valleys of the mountainous
Lake District in England. At that time, suddenly he came across a large number of golden
daffodils beside the lake and under the trees. The flowers were ‘fluttering and dancing’ in the
breeze.

The poet directly compares himself to a cloud, as he was wandering without aim, just like the
clouds. This is an example of simile (Simile is a figure of speech where two things are compared
using ‘as’ or ‘like’. Read more about figures of speech). He also uses the expressions like
‘crowd’ and ‘host’ to mean that he saw a large area covered with a whole lot of daffodils. In the
last line, the poet personifies the flowers by saying that they were fluttering (like birds or
butterflies) and dancing (like human beings). There is also an indication that it was a breezy day.
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So we get an overall idea of the landscape which includes the valleys and hills, the lake, the
trees, the flowers beneath them and the breezy atmosphere.

STANZA 2

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.

Here is another Simile. The flowers are compared to the stars. They stretched in a continuous
line just like the stars in a galaxy like the Milky Way. Moreover, the daffodils were shining (as
they were golden in colour) and twinkling (as they were fluttering in the breeze) as the stars. This
comparison with the stars may have a greater implication in indicating that the flowers
are heavenly as the stars.

The flowers were visible as far as the poet could see along the shore-line of a bay. That is why he
uses the phrase “never-ending line”. Here ‘continuous’ and ‘never-ending’ may also suggest that
the flowers left an everlasting impact on him.

Wordsworth exaggerates the number of flowers by saying “Ten thousand saw I at a glance”. That
indicates that the poet has never seen so many daffodils at once. So he is just overjoyed. This
type of exaggeration is called hyperbole (exaggerated statements or claims not meant to be taken
literally).

The poet also says that the daffodils were tossing their heads as if they were dancing in
happiness. Actually, the poet was amazed at the beauty of the flowers. So, he found everything
around him joyful. All these references of dancing and tossing heads are parts of
his personification of the flowers.
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STANZA 3

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:

The waves in the bay were dancing and looking gleeful at the atmosphere. But the flowers
outshone the lively waves in their happiness. Having such cheerful companion like the daffodils,
a poet like Wordsworth cannot help being happy. So he was gazing constantly at the flowers and
enjoying their beauty. The word ‘gazed’ is used twice to indicate how moved or charmed the
poet was. So he gazed at them for a long time, forgetting his surroundings.

At that time, he did not think much about the ‘wealth’ that the flowers had brought to him. The
poet realized that later, may be, after a few days. This ‘wealth’ is the happiness and the pleasant
memory that he enjoyed for a long time since the day.

STANZA 4

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.

By starting this stanza with ‘For’, the poet continues his reasoning for saying that the flowers had
brought him ‘wealth’. He clarifies why the sight of the flowers was so important in his life.
Whenever he lies on his bed in a vacant or thoughtful mood, the daffodils flash upon his inner-
eye, i.e., his imagination. The daffodils have become an everlasting memory for the poet,
whenever he is lonely. So, he calls it ‘a bliss of solitude’, a blessing of staying alone.
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And whenever he sees the flowers in his imagination, his heart fills with pleasure and his mind
dances with the dancing daffodils.

This shows the poet’s intense feelings. The poet has been able to depict the landscape and
express his mind so vividly in so simple language and form, that really draws one’s attention.
And that is why this poem has been one of the most read and mentioned subjective poems in the
history of English literature.
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BIBLIOGRAPHY
https://poemanalysis.com/william-wordsworth/i-wandered-lonely-as-a-cloud/

https://literaryenglish.com/summary-analysis-of-daffodils-by-william-wordsworth/

https://penlighten.com/analysis-of-daffodils-by-william-wordsworth

https://englicist.com/topics/daffodils

https://www.learninsta.com/daffodils-summary/