Critical Appreciation of the Poem Daffodils

The poem entitled The Daffodils is one of Wordsworth’s poems which appear
to be trivial and excessively simple in thought and meaning but if they are
observed with an intense look, they present a richness of thought and
emotion. This poem is indeed a beautiful piece of Nature poetry of
Wordsworth. It was written in 1804 and was first published in 1807.

This poem deals not merely with an outer phenomenon of Nature, but also
with the visionary experience which the perception of that phenomenon leads
to. The poem presents Wordsworth as a poet and lover of Nature with unusual
powers of accurate and minute observation. In the composition of this poem,
Wordsworth drew freely on Dorothy’s description of the daffodils’ in her
journal. He depends on his sister’s description as much as on his own
recollection.

Thought-Content :
The poet is alone and having Nature in mind wandering from one place to
another like a cloud which flies over vales and hills with the wind. All of a
sudden he sees a large number of golden daffodils which are growing on the
bank of the lake under the trees. A light breeze is blowing, making the
daffodils flutter and dance with it. For the poet, the view of the beautiful
golden daffodils is similar to the stars shining and twinkling in the milky way.

As far as the poet can see, he finds only the daffodils growing along the
margin of a bay and they seem to the poet to be in a very large numbers. All
of these flowers are tossing their heads in a sprightly dance. In the nearby
lake, the waves are dancing with the wind and sparkling because of the sun-
rays falling on them. But the beauty of the golden daffodils is so attractive and
charming that it easily surpasses the beauty of the dancing and sparkling
waves. The poet feels happy and blessed in such an enchanting and cheerful
company. The poet is completely absorbed in the beauty of the daffodils and
for the moment he has lost touch with his surroundings.

He considers himself fortunate and very happy that he has been the witness to
such a wonderful sight of the daffodils. Later, whenever the poet is thinking of
not being busy, lying on his couch, the daffodils flash upon his imagination.
The memory of the daffodils not only fills his heart with pleasure but also has
a refreshing effect on him and he feels like dancing along with the daffodils.
Moral of the Poem. :
The chief moral of the poem is true joy, peace and happiness afforded by a
glimpse into the beauty of the objects of Nature. The poem also consists of
the serene and tranquilising influence of Nature over man who is wholly
absorbed in materialistic pursuits in this world. The poem shows that Nature
has healing and soothing influence on the distressed, dejected and tortured
minds. This is beautifully conveyed by the poet in the last stanza :

‘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 daffodils.’

Form and Structure :

It is a lyrical and romantic poem which is based on the principle that poetry is
the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings recollected in traquility. It is
typically Wordsworthian. It portrays Nature at its best. It projects
Wordsworth’s extraordinary delight in understanding and exploring common
place things. The emotions associated with Wordsworth in this poem, are not
ephemeral but rather permanent and everlasting, The rhyme scheme is also
simple : ababcc. The last two lines of each stanza rhyme like the end of a
Shakespeare sonnet, so each stanza feels independent and self-sufficient. This
is called a ‘rhyming couplet’. There are not even any slant rhymes. Here is the
first stanza with the rhyme scheme :

‘I wandered lonely as a cloud (a)

That floats on high o’er vales and hills, (b)
When all at once I saw a crowd, (a)
A host, of golden Daffodils; (b)
Beside the lake, beneath the trees, (c)
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.’ (c)

The meter is iambic tetrameter, which just means that each line has four
(‘tetra’) iambs. An iamb is a short, unaccented syllable followed by a longer,
accented syllable. The meter is regular and consistent, especially compared to
many of Wordsworth’s other poems, which have a more conversational sound.

Imagery in the Poem :

The poem paints, a picture (image) of the persona taking a stroll and feeling
lonely. ‘I wandered lonely as a cloud’. This brings to bear the solitary state that
persona finds himself in. And all of a sudden, he stumbles upon a field of
golden daffodils. The sight of the daffodils dazzles the persona and puts him
in a trance of delight as they stretch in never ending lines, tossing their heads
in the breeze in a sprightly dance along the shore. Though the waves of the
lake danced beside the flowers, the daffodils outdid the water in glee. The
persona enthralled could not help but be happy in such a joyful company of
flowers.

The poem paints images of lakes, fields, trees, stars which come together to
change the persona’s mood from that of gloom to bliss. The poet continuously
praises the daffodils, comparing them to the milky way galaxy (in the second
stanza), their dance (in the third stanza) and in the concluding stanza, puts the
poet in a reflective mood and he cannot resist himself from participating in the
dance of the daffodils.

Symbolical Significance :
The daffodils symbolise the whole of Nature. The beautiful daffodils are a
perennial source of joy. The poet is so much overjoyed that he overwhelmingly
says :

A poet could not but be gay

In such a jocund company.

The Use of Figures of Speech :

The poet has used the figure of speech onomatopoeia. This is a figure of
speech which creates sound to convey the sense. There is an instance of this
figure of speech :

‘Beside the lake, beneath the trees

Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.’

The poet has used the figure of speech hyperbole in the poem. A hyperbole is
an exaggeration, an expanded statement meant to be understood as figurative
rather than literal. The most glaring example of hyperbole in this poem is the
persona’s statement regarding the number of daffodils :

‘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.’
The poet of course could not have known the number of flowers that stood
before him, especially since he only saw them ‘at a glance’. Also the line of
daffodils could not have been really ‘never-ending*. These statements are then
not meant to relate the actual number of daffodils that the poet witnessed
but, instead, the overwhelming effect of the expansive meadows of flowers.
The poet has used the figure of speech personification in the following lines :

1. ‘I wandered lonely as a cloud.’

(A cloud can obviously not wander or feel lonely—these are human attributes
or actions).

2. ‘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.’

(A crowd of daffodils is an example of personification because human

characteristics are given to the daffodils to suggest that they provide good
company to someone who is lonely. The daffodils ‘flutter’ and ‘dance’ just like
a merry group of people).

3. ‘The waves beside them danced; but they

Out-did the sparkling waves in glee.’

(Here is another personification because the poet compares the daffodils to

the ‘dancing waves’, stating that the daffodils brought so much joy that they
outdid the waves).

The poet has used the figure of speech simile in the first line of the first stanza
when he compares himself to a wandering cloud that is away from the
landscape:

‘I wandered lonely as cloud.’ (Simile)

Then he again uses simile to describe the daffodils spread continuously like
the shining stars that twinkle in the night sky :
‘Continuous as the stars that shine.’

The poet uses a few metaphors. Here are three metaphors :

1. ‘Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.’
(There is an unstated comparison of the movement of the daffodils in the wind
to a dance).

2. ‘They flash upon that inward eye.’

(There is an unstated comparison between one’s memory and an eye in the
mind).

3. ‘In such a jocund company.’

(An unstated comparison between many daffodils and their being a cheerful,
light-hearted group when one is in their presence).