Thursday, January 30, 2014

How does Wordsworth's imagery or tone in "I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud" help convey his message about nature and its effects on humans?

By identifying himself with the image of a cloud--"I wandered lonely as a cloud"-- the poet emphasizes his oneness with nature. He pictures himself as part of the natural world, not separate from it. He drifts in harmony with the elements. As he floats cloudlike, he almost immediately meets a host of golden daffodils and experiences joy. He has been lonely; they are a happy crowd that eases his feeling of solitude. "Ten thousand I...

By identifying himself with the image of a cloud--"I wandered lonely as a cloud"-- the poet emphasizes his oneness with nature. He pictures himself as part of the natural world, not separate from it. He drifts in harmony with the elements. As he floats cloudlike, he almost immediately meets a host of golden daffodils and experiences joy. He has been lonely; they are a happy crowd that eases his feeling of solitude. "Ten thousand I saw in a glance," says the poet. And as if they are people, they seem, as they blow in the wind, to be doing a "sprightly dance."


Wordsworth the "cloud" feels close to the daffodils: As they wave in the breeze, more lively than the waves dancing on the nearby lake, the poet cannot help but feel "gay/In such a jocund [laughing] company." The image of the dancing daffodils fills him with joy.


Wordsworth's tone of joy at seeing the daffodils expresses his delight in the natural world. In the last stanza, however, the spell is somewhat broken. Wordsworth no longer directly feels the joyous oneness with nature that he experienced when he was actually in the company of the daffodils. Lying at different times in a "vacant" or "pensive" [thoughtful] mood inside his home on his sofa, he does, however, have his memory, what he calls his "inward eye." This memory of the daffodils fills him with "bliss" and "pleasure." He can in tranquillity recall the emotion he once felt. Overall his tone is joyful and the images lovely because nature is healing and good. 



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