Help me analyze this poem.

"I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud"


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.

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.

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:

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.

William Wordsworth

d00d wheres my poem?

ah there it is

Your high?

haha exactly my thoughts^

there is no deeper meaning, this queer took a walk and saw some flowers, than felt compelled to write a poem about them, why is it that everyone seems to think famous peoms have deep meaning? half of them are probably drunken rants

I dont see any hidden meaning what-so-ever, but my lame ass teacher specificall wrote on the directions "go through the poem, beginning with the title and going line-by-line, to address the hidden meaning in the poem." What the fuck?

hahahaha.. we had some poem we had to analyze about the moon, and I said it was about some whack drugs, and I scored 29/30.

But seriously that poem sucks

he was alone and sad (what cloud represents) when he happened upon some daffodils (represent a new life? happiness? meaning?)these daffodils are everywhere in his life and fill him up with joy. (maybe the daffodils represent something else in his life that he's discovered? love?) he sees other beautiful things, waves, but they aren't as nice as the daffodils. he looked without realizing what he had, and now that he is at home he thinks about them when he has the time and wants them.
at least that's my take on it. overall it's a pretty bland straightforward type of poem. I also just realized I prefer poems that don't rhyme. good luck.

shit, I didn't realize you need a 4 page essay. daaaaamn. I'd google it right away.

discuss the themes of heaven v. hell. its about clouds (aka heaven), but when it mentions looking down, it talks about ghosts. it also mentions spirits, which are somewhat mythical and at times pagan creatures.


that was literally what i got when i skimmed it, sorry i didn't take more time to help. i'll help you out if my adderall crack binge holds.

the spirits thing is super abstract, btw. it says soemthing about a sprightly dance. whatever.

and to state the obvious, the poem follows a succinct a-b-a-b-c-c rhyming pattern.

also there is the theme going on on earth/water/sky.

peace out good luck

okay...look at themes, language usage, and literary features and how they all supplement each other. analyze why a particular word might have been used. throw in quotes as often as you possibly can, even if its a single word.( i get to do these sort of essays on a weekly basis, one of my final exams is a 2 hour one...i hate them.)

-the structure ( 4, 6 line stanzas) contrasts to the dream-like feeling of the content itself.
-could possibly be about someone with dreaming (last stanza hes "on the couch" etc etc)
-rhyme scheme is again structured.
-lots of links to natural elements
-crowd of daffodils/tossing their heads- anthropomorphic (to an extent...) used to make the reader more easily relate to the movements of  the flowers?
-repetition of gazed- highlighting how awestruck the poet is.

these are the sort of questions we try to answer to give the essay some substance.
-why has the author chosen the words they have? do they have any relevance/juxtapose the subject? (you can then go on to say it highlights this theme or whatever...blah blah blah)
-does the tone of the poem suit the subject? if not, why? if so, how does this make the reader feel?
-what is the effect of the "person" its written in? ie- first person allows for easier connection, third distances the reader.

the author wants to have sex with his mom. yeah i know, wierd, but true

thanks for all your feedback, expecially anneliese. I think i got it under control now. thanks ya'll.

Sounds like you might be doing okay now, buuuuut just to throw my hat into the ring here I am extremely familiar with good old Wordsworth.  PM me if you have any questions, I am an English major focusing on the Romantics...which of course Wordsworth was one of the greatest. 

One thing to consider for you is the Romantics fascination with going back to nature and peace with the turmoil they see in England and the industrial revolution.  Think about the imagery comparing this calm and peaceful world and heaven like Anneliese mentioned, looking down on the masses.  Also think about how Wordsworth treasures this peaceful memory and returns to it when he is in a thoughtful mood or stressed.  That should get you started anyway, I am not going to go into scansion of lines etc for you because not only do i doubt you would know what i was talking about, but the teacher would probably be like wtf how do you know all this shit.

ya, i compared the vales and hills to the masses, but ill go a little further and talk about the industrial revolution. I didnt realize all that. Thanks a lot.