Literary Criticism
"I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud" (also commonly known as "Daffodils"[2]) is a lyric poem by William Wordsworth.
It 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),[3] it was first published in 1807 in Poems in Two Volumes, and a revised versionwas published in 1815.[4] It is written in six-line stanzas with an ababcc rhyme scheme, like the Venus and Adonis stanza of Shakespeare, except intetrameters rather than pentameters.
It is generally considered Wordsworth's most famous work.[5] In the "Nation's Favourite Poems", a poll carried out by the BBC's Bookworm, "I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud" came fifth.[6] Often anthologised, "I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud" is commonly seen as a classic of English romanticpoetry, although Poems in Two Volumes was poorly reviewed by Wordsworth's contemporaries.
Contents
[hide]
1 Background
2 Revised version
3 Reception
3.1 Contemporary
3.2 Modern usage
3.2.1 Daffodil tourism
4 References
5 Notes
6 Bibliography
7 External links
Background[edit]
The inspiration for the poem came from a walk he took with his sister Dorothy around Glencoyne Bay, Ullswater, in the Lake District.[7][8]Wordsworth would draw on this to compose "I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud" in 1804. It was inspired by Dorothy's journal entry describing the walk:[8]
J. M. W. Turner – Ullswater from Gobarrow Park, watercolor, 1819,Whitworth Art Gallery
When we were in the woods beyond Gowbarrow park we saw a few daffodils close to the water side, we fancied that the lake had floated the seed ashore & that the little colony had so sprung up – But as we went along there were more & yet more & at last under the boughs of the trees, we saw that there was a long belt of them along the shore, about the breadth of a country turnpike road. I never saw daffodils so beautiful they grew among the mossy stones
It 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),[3] it was first published in 1807 in Poems in Two Volumes, and a revised versionwas published in 1815.[4] It is written in six-line stanzas with an ababcc rhyme scheme, like the Venus and Adonis stanza of Shakespeare, except intetrameters rather than pentameters.
It is generally considered Wordsworth's most famous work.[5] In the "Nation's Favourite Poems", a poll carried out by the BBC's Bookworm, "I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud" came fifth.[6] Often anthologised, "I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud" is commonly seen as a classic of English romanticpoetry, although Poems in Two Volumes was poorly reviewed by Wordsworth's contemporaries.
Contents
[hide]
1 Background
2 Revised version
3 Reception
3.1 Contemporary
3.2 Modern usage
3.2.1 Daffodil tourism
4 References
5 Notes
6 Bibliography
7 External links
Background[edit]
The inspiration for the poem came from a walk he took with his sister Dorothy around Glencoyne Bay, Ullswater, in the Lake District.[7][8]Wordsworth would draw on this to compose "I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud" in 1804. It was inspired by Dorothy's journal entry describing the walk:[8]
J. M. W. Turner – Ullswater from Gobarrow Park, watercolor, 1819,Whitworth Art Gallery
When we were in the woods beyond Gowbarrow park we saw a few daffodils close to the water side, we fancied that the lake had floated the seed ashore & that the little colony had so sprung up – But as we went along there were more & yet more & at last under the boughs of the trees, we saw that there was a long belt of them along the shore, about the breadth of a country turnpike road. I never saw daffodils so beautiful they grew among the mossy stones