Enjoying English Poetry Course Essay
Student’s Name: Class Number: Date: 2015/12/21
Wordsworth’s View on Nature Based on the Reading of I Wandered Lonely as
a Cloud
Che Hongyu
Wordsworth was a British poet in the 19th century and the poet laureate since 1843 till his death in 1850. He was born and grew up in the English Lake District and the beautiful scenery of his hometown nurtured his deep love for nature and his purpose of praising nature in his work. He called himself “Prophet of Nature” in The Prelude, and claimed that prophets of nature “will speak a lasting inspiration, sanctified by reason, blest by faith: what we have loved, others will love and we will teach them how”(Wordsworth, 1979: 482), by which he means he, as a nature worshipper, will write about his love for nature in his work and show the readers what he loves about nature, so as to teach them how to love nature and evoke their love for nature.
This essay will analyze the poem I wandered Lonely as a Cloud from the aspects of writing background, metrical patterns, figures of speech and images so as to examine William Wordsworth’s view on nature.
I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud was written in 1804 and believed to be one of the most beautiful poems written on nature. The poet wrote this poem based on his experience on April 15th, 1802. That day, Wordsworth and his sister Dorothy Wordsworth were walking in the Lake District, to quote Dorothy in Grasmere Journals, “It was a threatening misty morning-but mild. We set off after dinner…The wind was furious & we thought we must have returned…We first rested in the large
Boat-house, then under a furze Bush…The wind seized our breath the Lake was rough. We rested again in the Water Millock Lane…We got over into a field to avoid some cows…When we were in the woods beyond Gowbarrow park we saw a few daffodils close to the water side” (Abrams, 2000: 391). It was clear that that day was a windy one, Wordsworth and his sister set off for a walk after dinner but was frustrated by furious wind. They rested in the Boathouse, under a bush, and in the Water Millock Lane and they walked on against the wind and when they arrived at the woods, they saw the daffodils. The daffodils were beautiful and vast, “there was a long belt of them along the shore, about the breadth of a country turnpike road (Abrams, 2000: 391)”. They did not expect to see such beautiful daffodils in such a multitude on such a rough day. “I never saw daffodils so beautiful they grew among the mossy stones about & about them, some rested their heads upon these stones as on a pillow for weariness & the rest tossed & reeled & danced & seemed as if they verily laughed with the wind that blew upon them over the lake, they looked so gay ever glancing ever changing (Abrams, 2000: 391)”. The daffodils are not only beautiful but also cheerful, such natural beauty cheered up the two travelers on such a windy cold day. Two years later, Wordsworth wrote the poem I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud to praise nature.
Obviously, the theme of the poem is “nature is beautiful and wise” as shown in daffodils. To show the beauty and charm of daffodils, the poet creates a musically beautiful poem. This poem was written in iambic tetrameter, with a rhyme scheme of ababcc. All the four stanzas follow the same metrical pattern, and the whole poem is actually an ode to daffodils of the Horatian type. Tetrameter, shorter than pentameter, creates a cheerful rhythm and the use of traditional iambic meter ensures the soothing effect of musicality of the poem. The long vowels of au, i:, ai, ei, a: also create a comforting, calming effect on the readers, beautifully soothing. The repetition of the lateral l sound adds to this loving and peaceful effect. The poet’s use of the euphony shows how much he wants to show and convey to the readers the beauty of daffodils, which is also the beauty of nature.
Apart from the musical beauty, the poet uses various figures of speech and images to further show the beauty and cheerfulness of the daffodils. At the beginning of the poem, the speaker was seen as a lonely wanderer in the hill, who was compared to “a cloud that floats on high o’er vales and hills”. But the appearance of the daffodils greatly changed his melancholy mood. He did not see just one or two
