Abbey

I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud – Analysis (draft)

The poem “I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud” by William Wordsworth is about a man wandering
through nature by himself without any purpose. It is important to notice the loneliness of wander in
the title because it is not about neediness, but it is about isolation and unlikely to find anything in
this world that will be of comfort until the speaker finds something. Furthermore, this poem is
certainly inspiring about nature because when the speaker went for a walk, he felt like he was a
cloud. Suddenly he saw a huge number of golden daffodils. It amazed him with its beauty. Because
of this his loneliness changed to happiness.

In addition, this poem contains of hyperboles, similes and metaphors, even in the title. We also see
personification being used when the speaker describes daffodils and waves as dancing in stanza
three. At the same time, the phrase “Ten thousand saw I at a glance” is a hyperbole, this means the
poet saw a large number of daffodils which he could not count. Throughout, the poem used words
that have synonyms with happiness like ‘sprightly’, ‘gay’, ‘bliss’ and much more. In that case, the
poet used several things to describe the beauty of the daffodils. In stanza two, he compares daffodils
with the stars that shine on the Milky Way. In stanza three he compares them with waves. Even so,
he also used rhyming scheme which followed a clear pattern. Each stanza followed its own ABABCC
pattern. Stanza one shows this pattern.

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.

Moreover, the speaker seems in a joyful and delightful mood as he thought back on his time with the
flowers. To me, I am really able to feel his excitement when he thought about his experience. Beside
that, the poem is spoken in the first person and obviously we knew that this is only Wordsworth’s
own thought. Soon after, this poem used “I” in every stanza. Apart from that, the shifts are from
solitude to bliss. He started to feel lonely but then he expand his comfort when he saw the daffodils.
The second one is when he lied on his couch, he felt alone again but then he thought of the flowers,
and he doesn’t feel alone anymore.

Lastly, I am even more certain that the title refers to a man walking through nature by himself. After
analysing the poem, it shows us the nature could change our sadness to happiness. While the major
theme of this poem is valuing the nature. It is the greatest source of human happiness. The poem
describes the healing power of the nature and the beauty of the natural world is so strong enough to
lighten the mood even when we are experiencing a darkest side of our life.