I wondered lonely as a cloud (Daffodils)

I wondered lonely as a cloud

By William Wordsworth

Stanza 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.

Vocabulary:

Wandered: To go from place to another place without any purpose.

floats: Go up in the air.

o'er: over.

vales: valleys

crowd: a large number together without order.

host: Great number

Daffodils: Yellow flowers.

beneath: Under.

fluttering: Moving gently.

breeze: Light gentle wind.

 

Paraphrase:

 I was walking around alone like a cloud that is wandering in the sky, when  suddenly I saw a large number of yellow flowers dancing and moving in the wind beside the lake, under the trees.

Rhyme scheme: "ab ab cc"

Figures of speech:

1- Contrast: (wandering lonely – a crowd of daffodils)

2- Simile: (Line 1) "I wandered lonely as a could”.  The poet gives himself the image of a cloud

3- (Line 6) "Fluttering and dancing.  (Personification) The poet personifies the Daffodils as persons who can move gently.

4- Alliteration:

(Line 2) (high – hills) the sound "h"

(Line 3) (when – once) the sound "w"

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.

Vocabulary:

twinkle: Shine with a tumbling, sparkling light.

Milky Way: Area of the sky lit by a numberless stars.

Margin: Edge

Bay: A part of the sea enclosed by wide curve of the shore

Tossing: Throw up, raised up.

Sprightly: lively

 

Paraphrase:

 The daffodils stretched in a long line along the edge of the lake. They looked like

the stars that shine at night in the Milky Way in the sky. They were so many, that I

thought there are ten thousand, there by the river.

Rhyme scheme "ab ab cc"

 Figures of speech:

1- Simile: (Line 1) "Continuous as the stars that shine"

 The poet gives the daffodils the image of stars.

2- Metaphor: (Line 6) "Tossing their heads"

 He describes the daffodils of raising up their heads.