Lesson 11

In this lesson you will learn that:

 Simple Lyric is a poem characterized by
subjectivity, imagination, melody, and emotion.
 Subjectivity is a quality based on or influenced by
personal feelings, tastes or opinions.
 A walk around Glencoyne Bay in Lake District in
UK was what inspired William Wordsworth to
write “I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud” in 1804
which he revised in 1815.
 I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud
By William Wordsworth

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 be but 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
Vocabulary

wander \ ˈwän-dər  \ v. to walk around or go to different places

without a particular goal or direction

vale \ ˈvāl  \ n. a valley; dale; a land form between

two mountains
host \ ˈhōst  \ n. a great number; multitude

fluttering  \ ˈflə-tər-ing  \ moving quickly; swaying

milky way n. a broad band of light caused by a great number of faint stars

jocund  \ ˈjä-kənd \ adj. lively; jolly

couch  ˈkau̇ ch  \ n. a furniture for sitting or lying down

pensive \ ˈpen(t)-siv  \ adj. lost in serious or sad thought

gaze \ ˈgāz  \ v. to look at someone or something intently

without moving
sprightly \ ˈsprīt-lē  \ adj. full of energy and life

bliss \ ˈblis  \ n. complete happiness

Discussion
I wandered lonely as a cloud
That floats on high o'er vales and hills

1. The persona in the poem likened himself to a

_____________________

2. How did the speaker describe the cloud? ________________

3. What figurative language is used when two unlike things are

compared using as or like? ________________________
 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.

4. What caught the persona’s attention? ____________________________

5. Where was the persona at that time? _____________________________
6. How did the persona describe what he saw? ______________________ 
 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.
 
7. In this stanza, the persona compared what he saw to ___________ in the
Milky Way.
8. Why did the persona make such comparison? ________________
____________________________________________________________
9. The ten thousand heads tossing in sprightly dance refer to the __________.
 The waves beside them danced; but they
Out-did the sparkling waves in glee:
A poet could not be but gay, in such a jocund company:
I gazed—and gazed—but little thought
what wealth the show to me had brought:

10. How did the persona describe the waves? _______________________

11. What figurative language gives human characteristics to inanimate or

non-living things? ___________________________

12. What effect did that event have on the poet? ____________________

 
 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

13. The inward eye in this poem refers to ______________________.

14. What does the person consider as a “bliss of solitude”?
____________________
15. How does the persona feel every time he is reminded of that bliss?
________________________________________________________
Offline Work: Answer
pp. 69 -71, also
Assessments A and B on
page 71.