Chapter 1

Introduction

The following chapter introduces the main perspective of the current study, along

with a brief description of the keywords and terminologies within the analysis.

1.1 Language

Language plays an important role in our everyday life interactions. It is used by

human to do communication with other people in conveying and sharing idea, feeling,

emotion, and information both in spoken and written forms. It also serves the human

needs in their everyday communication in any situation.

According to Bloomfield (1993), the study of language plays a great part in our

life. Language is an important thing which is very close to human life since language is

used by human to communicate in their daily activities. Language whether spoken or

written is used to convey message, information or to show their social relationship to

each other. Language can express everything in people mind by using it. If people live

in society without knowing their language, a lot of difficulties in communication appear

because of dissimilarity aspect of culture behavior.

According to Trask & Stockwell, 2007, accent is the particular and specific way

by which group of people pronounce and speak a language. Almost every language

apart from some few people has diversity in terms of geographic, regional and social

differences. The distinctive manner in which different people speak the same language

is due to ethnic setting as well. The diversity of the accent can be noticed in the United
States where the accent of the Southern people is quite different from the accent of

people living in Eastern western America.

“Style” is a word derived from Latin word “elocution” which means style and

means “lexis” in Greek. Style is a broader term. It has several meanings in and outside

of the literary text. A particular procedure by which something is done, a manner or a

way is style. Broadly, appearance of everything is style. The way of doing something or

the way of living is also style.

Style is also related to a personality of a person. A style reflects the thoughts of a

person’s mind. It describes the way of person’s speaking and writing. In sociolinguistics,

a style is a set of linguistic variants with specific social meanings. In this context, social

meanings can include group membership, personal attributes, or beliefs. Linguistic

variation is at the heart of the concept of linguistic style—without variation there is no

basis for distinguishing social meanings. Variation can occur syntactically, lexically and

phonologically. Many approaches to interpreting and defining style incorporate the

concepts of indexicality, indexical order, stance-taking, and linguistic ideology. Note that

a style is not a fixed attribute of a speaker. Rather, a speaker may use different styles

depending on context. Additionally, speakers often incorporate elements of multiple

styles into their speech, either consciously or ubconsciously, thereby creating a new

style.

In general terms, stylisticians believe that the 'Claim and Quote' strategy is

inadequate in arguing for a particular view of a text, because, like the slip 'twixt cup and

lip, there are often logical gaps between the claim and the quotation intended to support
it. In other words, stylisticians think that intuition is not enough and that we should

analyse the text in detail and take careful account of what we know about how people

read when arguing for particular views of texts. But the Stylistics approach in Western

Europe and North America clearly grows out of the earlier critical approaches

associated with Practical Criticism and New Criticism. Stylisticians also use the same

kind of approach on non-literary texts.

Modern stylistics uses the tools of formal linguistic analysis coupled with the

methods of literary criticism; its goal is to try to isolate characteristic uses and functions

of language and rhetoric rather than advance normative or prescriptive rules and

patterns. Stylistic analysis in a poem usually used to explore the themes through

different poetic devices and vocabulary items to understand the poem. The study will

examine how the poet has presented the deep philosophy by using simple narrative

language and to study the style used in literary and verbal language and the effect

writer’s wish to communicate to the reader or hearer.

1.2 Stylistics

A branch of applied linguistics that deals with style and analyze style of any

material related to any genre is called stylistic. Stylistic is a study of different styles in

writing or speech. It tells us how appropriately the words or language are used in any

piece of writing. Stylistic analysis of any piece of writing is different from literary text as

stylistic analysis is much more based on facts and is objective in its nature. Our sole

purpose of doing stylistic analysis is to identify how does the impact of words and

feelings expressed through words make us feel when we read them. This poem
‘Daffodils’ is written by world’s renowned Romantic poet William Wordsworth. The

researcher will present here how such an analysis might be structured, how can

meaning be related to linguistic elements and how can it provide an objective account of

analysis.

1.3 Figures of Speech

The meaning of language can be literal or figurative. Literal language states

exactly what something is. On the other hand, figurative language creates meaning by

comparing one thing to another thing. Poets use figures of speech in their poems.

RM Robert 1994 indicates that each figure of speech is used to accomplish a

unique constellation of communicative goals. It broadens our understanding of

functional and theoretical differences between the various kinds of figurative language.

1.3.1 Metaphor as a Figure of Thought

A trope or figure of speech, in which an implied comparison is made between two

unlike things that actually have something in common. In its broad sense, a metaphor is

not only a figure of speech but also a figure of thought. It is a mode of apprehension and

a means of perceiving and expressing something in a radically different way. In such a

sense, figurative images are not simply decorative but serve to reveal aspects of

experience in a new light.

1.3.2 Simile As Another Kind of Comparison

A figure of speech in which two fundamentally unlike things are explicitly

compared, usually in a phrase introduced by like or as, as this statement, “the simile is a
metaphor that gives itself away”. 'The moon is a balloon': that's a metaphor. 'The moon

is like a balloon': that's a simile."

1.3.3 Oxymoron as an Apparent Contradiction

A figure of speech usually one or two words in which seemingly contradictory

terms appear side by side. Bradley Harris Dowden, "Logical Reasoning," 1993 state that

a contradiction in terms is also called an oxymoron. Debates are often started by asking

whether a term is an oxymoron. For example, is artificial intelligence an oxymoron?

Jokes are often based in oxymorons; is military intelligence an oxymoron?"

1.3.4 Hyperbole As Exaggeration

A figure of speech in which exaggeration is used for emphasis or effect. Steve

Atinsky, "Tyler on Prime Time," 2002 "Samantha and I sat in chairs that had been set up

near the table." 'What's hyperbole?' I asked her." 'It's a fancy way of saying bull.'

1.3.5 Understatement as Beauty or Sarcasm

Understatement, the opposite of hyperbole, is a figure of speech in which a writer

or speaker deliberate.

1.3.6 Cliché

A cliché is a trite expression whose effectiveness has been worn out through

overuse and excessive familiarity.

1.3.7 Metonymy

A figure of speech in which one object or idea takes the place of another with

which it has a close association. In fact, metonymy means “change of name.” As a

literary device, it is a way of replacing an object or idea with something related to it

instead of stating what is actually meant.

1.3.8 Onomatopoeia

A figure of speech in which words evoke the actual sound of the thing they refer

to or describe. ... The “boom” of a firework exploding, the “tick tock” of a clock, and the

“ding dong” of a doorbell are all examples of onomatopoeia.

1.3.8 Personification

A figure of speech where non-living objects are described to seem like people. In

the arts, personification means representing a non-human thing as if it were human. ...

In easy language personification is just giving an example of a living being for a non-

living thing.

1.3.9 Imagery

Imagery can be defined as a writer or speaker's use of words or figures of

speech to create a vivid mental picture or physical sensation. Many good examples of

imagery and figurative language can be found in “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry

God,” a sermon delivered by the Puritan minister Jonathan Edwards.

1.3.10 Irony

A figure of speech and one of the most widely- known literary devices, which is

used to express a strong emotion or raise a point. As defined, Irony is the use of words

to convey a meaning that is opposite of what is actually said.

1.3.11 Consonance

A figure of speech in which the same consonant sound repeats within a group of

words.The repeated consonant sounds can occur anywhere within the words—at the

beginning, middle, or end, and in stressed or unstressed syllables.

1.3.12 Synecdoche

A figure of speech in which a word or phrase that refers to a part of something is

substituted to stand in for the whole, or vice versa. For example, the phrase “all hands

on deck” is a demand for all of the crew to help, yet the word “hands”—just a part of the

crew—stands in for the whole crew.

1.3.13 Anastrophe

A figure of speech in which the normal word order of the subject, the verb, and

the object is changed. For example, subject–verb–object ("I like potatoes") might be

changed to object–subject–verb ("potatoes I like").

1.3.14 Alliteration

A figure of speech in which the same sound repeats in a group of words, such as the “b” sound

in: “Bob brought the box of bricks to the basement.” The repeating sound must occur either in

the first letter of each word, or in the stressed syllables of those words.

1.4 Levels of stylistics analysis

To analyze any text the following levels of stylistic are considered important:

1) Phonetic level: Examining the sounds of a language comes under the level

of phonetics. The study of characteristics and how are the sounds utilized at

phonetic level.

2) Phonological level: Studying the sound system of any given language and

formal rules of pronunciation is called phono-logical level.

3) Graphological level: It is the study of a language’s writing system

(graphology); the rules of spellings, use of punctuation, capitalization, font

style, paragraphing and line spacing.

4) Grammatical level: In this level both the syntactic and mor-phological levels

are analyzed. The aim is to analyze the in-ternal structure of sentences in a

language and in what se-quence they function in it. Clauses, phrases,

words, nouns, verbs, in a sentence of any language need to be distin-

guished and put through in analysis to find out the fore-grounding and

the deviation.

5) The lexical level: It is the study of the way in which individual words and

phrases come together in different pattern in different linguistic context.

1.5 Statement of the Problem

This work will be concerned with the use of language used by the poet William

Wordsworth in his poem “Daffodils” and its ultimate effect on reader’s mind. It also

concerned with what Poetic devices (figures of speech) has been used in the poem.

1.6 Objectives

The main purpose of this work is to explore how the poet William Wordsworth

integrated the language use in his poem. Another aim is to analyze some specific

characteristics that have made this poem great and has given its identity.

1.7 Significance of the study

This work will be concerned with striking and marked use of words in the poem in

order to enhance effective transfer of message. The effects and functions of the stylistic

elements as regards the poem will be looked at in the analysis.

1.8 Limitations of the Study

The time is too short to deal properly with the analysis of the poem. The material

is not as much as it should be.

 Chapter II

Literature Review

This chapter gives an overview of the past studies conducted within the

jurisdiction of the concerned title of the study.

2.1 Stylistics

A branch of applied linguistics concerned with the study of style in texts,

especially (but not exclusively) in literary works. Before the 20th century stylistics only

deals with literary text. But from 20th century it started to deal with non-literary text.

Example: law, religion, advertisement, newspaper etc. Katie Wales in A Dictionary of

Stylistics writes: “The goal of most stylistics is not simply to describe the formal features

of texts for their own sake but in order to show their interpretation of the text, or in order

to relate literary effects to linguistics causes where there are felt to be relevant”.

2.2 Phonetics level

Phonetics is a branch of linguistics that comprises the study of the sounds of

human speech, or in the case of sign languages the equivalent aspects of sign. It is

concerned with the physical properties of speech sounds or signs (phones): their

physiological production, acoustic properties, auditory perception, and neurophysiologic

status. So, It is an examination of sounds; we study the characteristics and potential

utility of sounds in phonetic level.

2. 3 Phonological level

Phonology is a branch of linguistics concerned with the systematic organization

of sounds in languages. It has traditionally focused largely on the study of the systems

of phonemes in particular languages (and therefore used to be also called phonemics),

but it may also cover any linguistic analysis either at a level beneath the word including

syllable, onset and rime, articulatory, gestures, articulatory features, mora, etc. or at all

levels of language where sound is considered to be structured for conveying linguistic

meaning. Phonology also includes the study of equivalent organizational systems in

sign languages. The word phonology (as in the phonology of English) can also refer to

the phonological system (sound system) of a given language. This is one of the

fundamental systems which a language is considered to comprise, like its syntax and its

vocabulary. Lodge is of the view that phonology is the study of linguistic systems.

Specifically, the way in which sound represents, differences of meaning in a language.

Ofuya believes that phonology describes the ways in which speech sounds are

organized in English into a system. Phonology basically deals with the sound patterns,

the rhyming scheme and utterance of the word in the sentence. Phonological devices

are: rhyme elements, alliteration, consonance and assonance.

2.4 Graphology

Leech claims that graphology exceeds orthography. It refers to the whole writing

system: punctuation and paragraphing as well as spacing. According to Crystal and

Davy, Graphology is the analogous study of a languages writing system or orthography

as seen in the various kinds of handwriting or topography. These are the formalized
rules of writing. Alabi added that "a graphological discussion of style among other

features entails the foregrounding of quotation marks, ellipses periods, hyphens,

contracted forms, special structures, the full stop, the colon, the comma, the semicolon,

the question mark, the dash, lower case letters, gothic and bold prints, capitalization,

small print, spacing, italics etc". In other words, it deals with the systematic formation,

structure and punctuation in the sentence.

2.5 Grammatical Level

In this level both the syntactic and morphological levels are discussed. The aim is

to analyze the internal structure of sentences in a language and the way they function in

sequences. Clauses, phrases, words, nouns, verbs, etc. need to be distinguished and

put through an analysis to find out the foregrounding and the deviation.

2.6 Lexico-Syntax

It is the combination of two different words Lexis and syntax. Lexis means the

vocabulary which is used in a language or in any writing for any purpose. Syntax means

Sentence construction‘: how words group together to make phrases and sentences. So,

it is used in the construction of the sentence as stylistics is used in literary style. Lexico-

Syntactic patterns may be obtained through various means which include unusual or

inverted word order, omission of words and repetition. According to Tallerman, "Lexico-

Syntactic choices are obtained through devices such as piling of usual collocates,

unusual collocates, archaic words, particular parts of speech, metaphor, simile,

oxymoron etc".
2.7 Previous Study

The investigation of style has long held focal in Old English artistic reviews. One

explanation behind this reality is the uncommon character of Old English verse, and

certain cases of early Middle English verse too, when contrasted and any verse in the

later history of English writing from Chaucer to the late nineteenth century.

Elaborate components of old English verse as the utilization of exceptional lovely

phrasing, a lot of it allegorical. Each of complex components has gotten sufficient

consideration in the basic writing. The style of the Anglo-saxon Chronicle has gone

under investigation. All things considered, a readiness to the expressive impacts in play

in individual Old English ballads appears to have been at its top amid the 1970s, as

New Critical motivations separated into the feedback of old English writing from times

of artistic reviews.

2.8 Biography of the Poet

Wordsworth is very famous for his nature poems. According to him, man's inner feelings

can better polished and strengthened by nature. He also thinks that man is near to the

nature. Man gets real satisfaction, knowledge and pleasure through nature. He lives

near the beautiful Lake District where he spends almost all his life. He wrote many

poems on nature. Nature inspires him a lot. In his nature poems, we find deep

descriptions of land, rivers, mountains, flowers and birds etc. which are full of beauty,

colors and imaginations. His nature poems also reveal his immense feelings of

happiness and thoughts in visualizing and listens the creatures of nature. Although he

loves nature very much but is unsatisfied by the human society. Wordsworth‘s concepts
of Romanticism and nature are well described in the poem ''Daffodils''. The poet sits

calmly in a forest, enjoying birds, trees, and flowers. These elements of nature are the

source of pleasure of "human soul". He compares the human's disharmony with the

harmony of the nature. In the preface of Lyrical Ballard, Wordsworth defined the poetry

as the spontaneous overflow of powerful feeling arising from emotions recollected in

tranquility. He wrote this poem after inspiring by the charm and beauty of the nature. He

describes his feelings recollected in the spring scenarios. He describes the clear and

graphic and beautiful picture of early spring: flowers, birds, new green branches of trees

and the cool breeze. In the poem, he shows the great contrast between the pleasures

and joys of the natural world and the materialistic world. In fact Wordsworth‘s use of

language and rhythm help to construct such contrast which reveals the poet‘s

spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings".

 Chapter III

Research Methodology

Methodology is an agenda in which one can be on familiar terms with the

principles of the selected model and it makes available the fundamentals and

techniques of the study. In this section the researcher provides a stylistic analysis of

the poem 'Daffodils' written by Wordsworth. The researcher uses the Poetic devices

(Figures of speech, meter) and different levels of Stylistics to analyze the poem; the

lexico-syntactic choices, phonological, semantic, grammatical and graphological levels

of analysis are the basis of this analysis. The researcher’s initial interpretation of

'Daffodils' came about solely as a consequence of looking at the words in the poem.

The researcher did not think particularly about the grammatical and graphological

elements that have deviation at the beginning of analysis of this poem. The researcher

started with an examination of the lexical features considering it a good place to start

with a more detailed linguistic analysis for Daffodils.

3.1 Data of the study

“Daffodils”
Final Version (1815)
By William Wordsworth
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.
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.
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.
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.
 Chapter IV

Analysis and Findings

In this chapter, the researcher will discuss the outcome of the current study.

Using the aforementioned research methodologies and paradigms, the deducted results

would be highlighted and elaborated in detail.

4.1 Introduction of the Poet

"Daffodils" is a lyric poem by William Wordsworth. It is Wordsworth's most

famous work. The poem was inspired by an event on 15 April 1802, in which

Wordsworth and his sister Dorothy came across a "long belt" of daffodils. Written some

time between 1804 and 1807 (in 1804 by Wordsworth's own account), it was first

published in 1807 in Poems in Two Volumes, and a revised version was published in

1815. Wordsworth revised the poem in 1815. He replaced "dancing" with "golden";

"along" with "beside"; and "ten thousand" with "fluttering and". He then added a stanza

between the first and second, and changed "laughing" to "jocund". The last stanza was

left untouched. The plot of the poem is simple. In the 1815 revision, Wordsworth

described it as "rather an elementary feeling and simple impression (approaching to the

nature of an ocular spectrum) upon the imaginative faculty, rather than an exertion of it.

4.2 Title and Theme of the Poem

The title, “Daffodils” is a simple word that reminds us about the arrival of the

spring season, when the field is full of daffodils. Daffodils are yellow flowers, having an

amazing shapes and beautiful fragrance. A bunch of daffodils symbolize the joys and
happiness of life. The theme of the poem “Daffodils” is a collection of human emotion

inspired by nature that we may have neglected due to our busy lives. The daffodils

imply beginning or rebirth for human beings, blessed with the grace of nature. The

arrival of daffodils in the month of March is welcome and an enjoyable time to

appreciate them. Like many of Wordsworth's poems, the central idea of "Daffodils" is

the beauty of nature. The speaker encounters a field full of daffodils waving in the

breeze and is overcome with delight watching them. After leaving the field, he often

thinks of the flowers when he is bored or melancholy and the memory of their beauty

and cheer once again brings him joy. At the beginning of the poem, the speaker is

feeling lonely and sad. As he walks along, he sees a large area of daffodils along the

side of a lake, blowing in the breeze with bright yellow flowers reflected in the water in

spite of the waves due to the wind. The sight of the flowers on the shore and their

reflection cheers him greatly. To the poet, these flowers are not just pretty, but cheerful

and joyous company that brings him out of his loneliness. Best of all, the poet finds that

the memory of the sight of the daffodils stays with him, giving him companionship and

joy when he is "in vacant or in pensive mood." The central idea of the poem is the

expression of the comfort and cheering the author finds in the beauty of observing the

daffodils.

4.3 Content Analysis

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.

Stanza 1

While wandering like a cloud, the speaker happens upon daffodils fluttering in a

breeze on the shore of a lake, beneath trees. Daffodils are plants in the lily family with

yellow flowers and a crown shaped like a trumpet.

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.

Stanza 2
The daffodils stretch all along the shore. Because there are so many of them,

they remind the speaker of the Milky Way, the galaxy that scientists say contains about

one trillion stars, including the sun. The speaker humanizes the daffodils when he says

they are engaging in a dance.

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.

Stanza 3

In their gleeful fluttering and dancing, the daffodils outdo the rippling waves of the

lake. But the poet does not at this moment fully appreciate the happy sight before him.

In the last line of the stanza, Wordsworth uses anastrophe, writing “the show to me had

brought” instead of the “show brought to me”. Anastrophe is an inversion of the normal

word order.

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

Stanza 4
Not until the poet later muses about what he saw does he fully appreciate the

cheerful sight of the dancing daffodils. Wordsworth again uses anastrophe, writing

when on my couch I lie and my heart with pleasure fills.

4.4 Findings

The poem Daffodils is written by William Wordsworth and is basically a lyric,

having four quatrains, each quatrains contains six lines. The basic pattern of rhythm is

iambic tetrameter. The poem is not monotonous or deadly. Even a new reader can

easily understand this that rhythm is changing at some places. The change in the

rhythmic pattern causes the effectiveness in the poem. The stress on the words attracts

the reader‘s attention. The word on which stressed is laid, has some significance for

example in the fourth stanza stressed is put on the ‘daffodils ‘‘which is the

personification of human nature. In the book, Linguistic Guild to English Poetry‘, Leech

differentiates poetic language with common language. He writes poetic language may

violate or deviate from the generally observed rules of the language in many different

ways, some obvious, some subtle. The poem Daffodils describes the beauty and charm

of the nature. Wordsworth points out the beauty of the nature through Daffodils.

Wordsworth explains this through his style by the variations in rhythm, by the stressed

pattern he followed, and by playing through words, he beautifully describes the contrast

in the real natural world and the materialistic world of man. The choice of words by the

writer or the poet plays a very important role in meaning making. It helps the reader to

understand the message the poet is trying to pass on. Stylistics, by this analysis has

shown that there is a distinction between poetic and non- poetic language as a means

of defining literature.
4.5 Structure and Rhyme Scheme

The poem contains four stanzas of six lines each. In each stanza, the first line

rhymes with the third and the second with the fourth. The stanza then ends with a

rhyming couplet. Wordsworth unifies the content of the poem by focusing the first three

stanzas on the experience at the lake and the last stanza on the memory of that

experience.

4.6 Meter

The lines in the poem are in iambic tetrameter, as demonstrated in the third stanza:

..........1..............2..................3...................4

The WAVES.|.be SIDE.|.them DANCED;.|.but THEY

......1................2..................3................4

Out-DID.|.the SPARK.|.ling WAVES.|.in GLEE:—

....1.............2.............3.............4

A PO.|.et COULD.|.not BUT.|.be GAY

......1.............2...........3............4

In SUCH.|.a JOC.|.und COM.|.pa NY:

.......1................2..................3.................4

I GAZED—.|.and GAZED—.|.but LIT.|.tle THOUGHT

...........1....................2............3...............4

What WEALTH.|.the SHOW.|.to ME.|.had BROUGHT:

In the first stanza, line 6 appears to veer from the metrical format. However,

Wordsworth likely intended fluttering to be read as two syllables (flut' 'RING) instead of

three so that the line maintains iambic tetrameter.

4.7 Lexical Features

First of all the researcher considered the open class words in this poem. Open

class words carry the majority of meaning in a language as compared to closed class

(grammatical) words such as determiners (e.g. this, that, the) and prepositions (e.g.

in, at, on). Closed class words can be called as sentence 'connectors’ and they join

together open class words in meaningful arrangements in sentences. Below the

given table shows how are the open class words distributed throughout the poem.

Open class words include all the nouns, verbs, adjectives and adverbs in the poem.

Nouns/Pronouns Adjectives Verbs Adverbs

I High Wandered Sprightly
Cloud Vacant Floats Lonely
Values Pensive Saw All at once
Hills Inward Fluttering Oft
I Solitude Dancing
Crowd Bliss Shine
Host Little Twinkle
Daffodils Jocund Stretch
Lake Gay Saw
Trees Sparkling Glance
Breeze Ten thousand Tossing
Stars Never ending Dance
Way Milky Danced
Line Golden Outdid
Margin continuous Brought
Bay Gazed
I Gazed
Their Flash
Heads Fills
Works Dances
They
Waves
Glee
Poet
Company
Thought
Wealth
Show
Me
My
Couch
I
Mood
They
Eye
My
Heart
Daffodils 04
Pleasure 15
20
39
Table 1: Distribution of open class words in Daffodils

This table tells us that the poem consists mainly of noun, pronouns and verbs. A

good number of adjectives are also used in this poem. The nouns are mostly concrete -

that is, they refer to physical objects, but a few are abstract nouns as well like

‘thought, pleasure, mood, company, glee’.

4.8 Graphological level

This poem consists of four stanzas of six lines each. A six lines stanza is

called Ststes. Most of the lines are in the form of com-plete sentences but no full stop

is there at the end of each line. There is a full stop at the end of the last line of every

stanza of the whole poem. The poet has used commas, semi colons and colon to give
pauses as the whole stanza is in the form of a single complete sentence having more

than one sub ordinate clauses. There is foregrounding as the poet has not written

the complete spelling of two words like ‘over’ is written as ‘o’er’ and ‘often’ as ‘oft’. Eve-

ry line of the poem is started with the capital letter that is also an element of

foregrounding. The rhyming scheme of the poem is as ‘ABAB CC’. The stress pattern is

as followed: I wan/ dered lone/ ly as/ a cloud/.

Name of the foot used in this poem is ‘iambic tetrameter as there are four feet

in a line hence, the poem follows quatrain couplet rhyming scheme.

4.8.1 Graphological parallelism

If we talk about the graphology of the poem, graphological parallelism can be

found here. Each stanza has six lines and the complete stanza is in the form of a

complete but longer sentence. The poet has used commas, semi colon, colon and

apostrophe to make it a long sentence. The full stop in the stanzas is at the end of eve-

ry last line of each stanza.

4.9 Phonological level

The poet has used alliteration at various places in the poem like in line 1 ‘lonely

as a cloud’. In line 2 ‘high o’er vales and hills.’ We can see an example of alliteration

in line 3 as well like ‘when all at once’, w and o have the same consonant sound in this

phrase. In line 5 ‘beside the lake, beneath the trees’. In these words, the bold letters

are the example of alliteration (assonance and consonance) in all these lines.

4.10 Poetic Devices

 William Wordsworth is famous for using poetic devices or figurative language.

The following are the figures of speech used by William Wordsworth in this poem.

4.10.1 Consonance

The poet has used alliteration at various places in the poem like in line 1 ‘lonely

as a cloud’. In line 2 ‘high o’er vales and hills.’ We can see example of alliteration in line

3 as well like ‘when all at once’, w and o have the same consonant sound in this

phrase. In line 5 ‘beside the lake, ‘beneath the trees’

4.10.2 Simile

The poet has used the simile of ‘as a cloud”. He has compared himself to a

wandering cloud that is away from the landscape. It makes us feel as the poet is literally

floating free like a cloud from his environment.

4.10.3 Personification

William Wordsworth has also used this figure of speech in this poem

Daffodils. He has compared the cloud as lonely human in the very first line of the

poem. At another place, the poet has compared the daffodils to a crowd of people.

Comparison of Daffodils with dancing human is another example of a personification

from this poem.

4.10.4 Metonymy
 Metonymy is a figure of speech in which an important aspect or associated

detail of an experience or object is used to represent the whole picture of that

experience or object. This always represents a comparison between whole and part

of it, not two different wholes. The comparison of the first three stanzas to the fourth

and final stanza of the poem is the example of metonymy. "For oft when on my couch I

lie”. In vacant or in pensive mood. They flash upon the inward eye ,Which is the bliss of

solitude; And then my heart with pleasure fills, And dances with the daffodils." The

poet wrote this stanza of the poem after a few years from its publication of the first

version that comprised of three stanzas. First three stanzas are in the past form of

verb whether this last stanza is in the present form of verb. The poet is comparing

his present situation with the experience of the past by mentioning the Daffodils.

4.10.5 Apostrophe

Apostrophe:“I saw a crowd, A host, of golden daffodils;” The poet apostrophizes

the daffodils and describes them in their large number as a crowd of people. Also, “In

such a jocund company “The poets addresses the flowers as human beings and

describes them as a happy company of good friends.

Chapter V
 Conclusion

This poem Daffodils is a very simple but a lovely and most famous poem in the

Wordsworth panorama of poetry. It reminds us the familiar subjects of Wordsworth’s

poetry that are memory and nature. This time the poet has used a simple musicality to

create eloquence in this poem. The plot of the poem is very simple. It depicts the poet’s

wandering and the result of this wandering emerges in the form of a beautiful cluster of

dancing daffodils beside the lake. The memory of that whole picture pleases and

comforts him when he is alone, gloomy and when restlessness tries to occupy him. The

way the poet has characterized the occurrence of memory of the daffodils gives a

strong feeling of inner satisfaction when one recalls the memory of any beloved person

or any beloved object. The reverse personification of its early stanzas has the main

brilliance of this poem. The speaker is compared to a natural object. This technique

creates an integral unity between man and nature, making it one of Wordsworth’s most

basic and effective methods to instill the same feeling in the reader as the poet himself

is experiencing. The poet has used a good number of adjective to describe human and

nature related nouns that create harmony between man and nature.

To make the reader feel the part of all experience, the writer has to choose the

words in his writings in such a way that convey meaning appropriately and keep the

rhythm and harmony of thoughts too. The choice of words helps the reader to

understand the message the poet is trying to convey. Here in this poem the choice of

words by Wordsworth has made us feel like we are there, witnessing Daffodils tossing

their heads and dancing happily. We can see ten thousand flowers in a row along the
bay with the gleaming waves. The imagery and the metaphors have made this poem a

simple but an extraordinary poem.

References
[1] Poet.Org, http://www.poets.org/poetsorg/poet/william-wordsworth Accessed

November 11, 2014

[2] Spark Notes,

http://www.sparknotes.com/poetry/wordsworth/section7.rhtml Accessed December

01,2014

[3] E Notes, http://www.enotes.com/homework-help/what-theme-forwordsworth-s-quot-

daffodils-quot-16353 Accessed December 01, 2014

[4] Topic3,Patterns,Deviations, Styles and Meanings https://www.google.com.pk/url?

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efDpZZ0s7Ww&sig2=MoghQvr01-pgXNsT4yx1rQ Accessed December 04, 2014.

www.google.com Geoffrey N. Leech A Linguistic Guide to English Poetry Foreign

Language Teaching and Research Press 2000, Joanna Thornborrow & Shan Wareing

Patterns in Language: Stylistics for Students of Language and Literature Foreign

Language Teaching and Research Press 2002 ,Leech, G. (1969), ―A linguistic guide

to English Poetryǁ, London: Longman.52, Richard Bradford Stylistics Routledge London

and New York 1997.