Preview

Wordsworth Reveals a Personal Affinity with Nature in His Poem “My Heart Leaps Up” and “I Wandered as Lonely as a Cloud”. How Does He Achieve This?

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
256 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Wordsworth Reveals a Personal Affinity with Nature in His Poem “My Heart Leaps Up” and “I Wandered as Lonely as a Cloud”. How Does He Achieve This?
Throughout Wordsworth poems, “my heart leaps for joy and” I wandered as lonely as a cloud” he displays a very deep, spiritual and emotional connection with nature. The poems are focused on the natural beauty of the ‘rainbow’ and ‘daffodils’. In both poems he reveals a personal affinity with nature. This is evident through the interplay of poetic techniques throughout both poems.
Living most of his life in rural England, Wordsworth was very much against the Industrialisation and the French Revolution. These two events had a significant impact on his poetry because of its corrosive effect on the individual, the community and the landscape. He strived to immortalise the lost rural landscape in his poetry and does this through his two poems “my heart leaps up” and “I wandered as lonely as a cloud”. ‘I wandered as lonely as a cloud’ reflects the inherit connections between man and nature. Wordsworth uses a variety of figurative language to communicate this idea. Hyperbole, visual imagery and personification are important techniques used as they indicate Wordsworth’s love for nature. In the first line of the poem he uses personification in representing himself figuratively "as a cloud". Wordsworth then proceeds to personify the daffodils as humans, describing the daffodils as ‘fluttering and dancing in the breeze’ He also personifies the daffodils as a ‘jocund company’, suggesting the flowers have feelings just as humans do. Again, there is the suggestion of unity between man and nature when Wordsworth describes that ‘a poet cannot be gay, in such a jocund

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Powerful Essays

    The poem begins by undercutting the beautiful, pleasant imagery promised by the title through the terse bluntness of the “dusk, and cold.” Flowers are indeed present as the title suggests, but only “frail, melancholy” ones, gathered by the subservient act of “kneeling” among “ashes and loam”. There is a definite sense of ending – both of the day, and of something grander. The persona’s attempts at engaging with the natural world are crudely rebuffed – she cannot succeed in her musical engagement, merely “try”, which results only in an “indifferent” blackbird “fret[ting] and strop[ing]” under “Ambiguous light. Ambiguous sky.” This unfriendly environment in which the poem begins foregrounds the sense of loss which characterises so much of Harwood’s poetry, an inevitable, confronting finality emphasised by the bluntness of the language and plethora of full stops. The adult world presented here is one of uncertainty, difficulty and ambiguity.…

    • 1334 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Poetry essay

    • 589 Words
    • 3 Pages

    The Poem ‘Winter Swans’ seems to convey a strong theme of natural love. The poem begins with setting a scene of a peaceful day, where nature seems to be stilled after the torrential weather that is referred to in the first line through ‘The clouds had given their all.’ It goes on to say that there was then a ‘break’, and throughout the poem the poet uses words such as ‘silent’ and ‘rolling’, ‘stilling’ and ‘slow-stepping’ to capture this scene of peace and serenity, as if the world was resting after being thrashed about by a storm.…

    • 589 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    My Papa's Waltz

    • 875 Words
    • 4 Pages

    He states in the first stanza that he wanders “lonely as a cloud/That floats on high o’er vales and hills,” which, in just reading the first line, may seem a bit melancholy. However, interpreting the vision of a magnificent cloud alone in the sky puts a positive spin on the idea. Additionally, the second line serves as a reminder of that positivity. He then refers to a vast expanse of flowers as “a crowd,/a host, of golden daffodils,” suggesting that the amount of flowers is overwhelming, but in no way is it a sign that one should not venture further. On the contrary, it seems a lot more like an invitation to join in on the ‘party’ that the flowers are having. If Wordsworth had simply called it “a bunch/a group of flowers,” it would not have had nearly the same effect, because ‘group’ and ‘crowd’ have very different implications as far as size goes. He furthers the hyperbole in the second stanza by calling the flowers “Continuous as the stars that shine/And twinkle on the milky way.” For most, the number of stars in our galaxy is entirely unfathomable. Furthermore, the idea of that many things existing in just one area on our planet is almost overwhelming, and it puts a great sprightly feeling into the reader’s…

    • 875 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Muir and Wordsworth

    • 791 Words
    • 2 Pages

    While both poets Muir and Wordsworth wrote about the happy feelings that they have towards nature the beautiful outdoors or what some people may say Mother Nature, some of which the feelings are the same and some that are different as they speak of the different plants.…

    • 791 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    King Henry Muir Analysis

    • 678 Words
    • 3 Pages

    As well as the tone he uses is exactly what he wants us to see that nature has power over him. Wordsworth uses diction when he says, “lonely as a cloud” This shows the negative felling his going through. He feels lonely and very sad. His diction connotes to something unpositive his going through so this is the start of the poem that guides us through what was the purpose of his walk and that indeed he is sad. "A poet could not but be gay, In such a jocund company" another example of diction that has a positive connotation his heart is now filled with happiness as he is accompanied by this positive and happy people. He is even using personification because he is the daffodils human characteristics that they are cheerful company like a human…

    • 678 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    His poem “I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud” tells the story about when he took a stroll by himself and found a field of daffodils. “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.” Wordsworth is describing how he first found the daffodils, which are beside the lake. He took his time to realize their movements in the breeze. “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.” In the last stanza of his poem, Wordsworth describes how he feels after coming in contact with the daffodils. He states that “his heart fills with pleasure and dances with the daffodils.”…

    • 687 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Muir And Wordsworth

    • 488 Words
    • 2 Pages

    “I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud” is a very descriptive poem about nature and how it connects to his feelings, which allows the readers to imagine what he is feeling through nature. In “I Wandered Lonely as a cloud Wordsworth states directly how he is feeling: “I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud. That floats on high o'er vales and hills.” Wordsworth describes what he sees as he is wandering. Wordsworth is describing many things in these two lines. He is describing his feelings, the weather, his homeland, and an upcoming storm. He is connecting all of these things about nature to his emotions at that moment. Wordsworth states, “A poet could not but be gay, In such a jocund company:”, which means he is not a happy person but as he is wandering, he can’t help but feel joy with all the beautiful nature around him.”I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud” is beautiful written poem…

    • 488 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Poem Analysis Essay

    • 562 Words
    • 3 Pages

    The poetic language and writing in these two poems “Stopping by woods on a Snowy Evening ” and “Loveliest of Trees” describe man's attraction to the beauty of the nature outside. Robert Frost and A.E. Houseman each use different types of sentence structure, imagery, and diction to depict the environment and feelings of the narrators in their poems.…

    • 562 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Misgiving by Robert Frost

    • 706 Words
    • 3 Pages

    One of the finest qualities in most of Frost's poems is the liberal use of nature for setting. Along with the use of seasons for backgrounds, he also utilizes trees and leaves to transfer human feeling onto them. Frost delivers his poetry in the easily comprehensible, conversational style of New England inhabitants of the twentieth century. The use of simple English metrics is admirably suited to the subjects and themes Frost presents.…

    • 706 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Analysis of Robert Frost

    • 750 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Robert Frost has many themes in his poetry. One of the main themes that are always repeated is nature and he always discusses how beautiful nature is or how destructive it can be. Frost, a teacher, lecturer, writer, and four time Pulitzer Prize recipient, can be recognized in his writing by the same common factor; nature. While some may or may not be a fan of his work, we can agree that his poetry and style as stated in Norton Anthology, …”the clarity, colloquial rhythms, simplicity of images, and folksy speaker,… make his poems look natural and unplanned” (Baym).…

    • 750 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The language of the “I Wondered as a Cloud” is much more soft and respecting towards the nature. William Wordsworth doesn’t use “my” at all in his poem, because his poem is not so egoistic. It is not a surprise that that this poem’s other title is The Daffodils. The poet shows his great respect towards nature and he uses a rhythmic style that helps him to get our…

    • 841 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Wordsworth portrays the effects of urbanization on rural family life as horrible. At the start, the female vagrant's life and her father's was like a happy dream; "One field, a flock, and what the neighbouring flood / Supplied, to him were more than mines of gold / Light was my sleep, my days in transport rolled,' (3-5) until the capitalists came; "Then rose a mansion proud our woods among / And cottage after cottage owned its sway,' (39-40) and "All, all was seized, and weeping side by side / We sought a home where we uninjured might abide / Can I forget the miserable hour'" (53-55). Here Wordsworth portrays urbanisation as ruinous of rural life; rural families were relocated from their homes, sometimes forcefully, by the wealthy class who wanted to build their mansions on the rural folks' beautiful land.…

    • 1610 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    It's not about what you say; it's how you say it. Most authors would disagree; it is about what you say. Authors use diction and imagery to convey a message in a work. The subject of "I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud" is seclusion. William Wordsworth expresses this subject thought his deliberate diction and…

    • 55 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Robert Frost’s poems, Desert Places and Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening are about similar settings in nature. The setting in each poem is a cold night with nothing surrounding the speakers but nature. Through the use of basic stanzas and simplistic diction, Frost is able to reveal more than the just the characteristics of nature By comparing each speaker to their surrounding Frost is able to express a sense of solitude within the natural environment as well as within the narrator of each poem. In addition, by describing the reaction of each speaker to his surroundings, Frost reveals the emotions of the speakers. Although Frost writes about similar settings and themes in Desert Places and Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening, the difference between the perceptions of each narrator to his surroundings reveals the complex duality behind the meaning of solitude.…

    • 1352 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays

Related Topics