Analysis of Daffodils by William Wordsworth

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.

Analysis

Stanza 1-2

The poet was lonely like a single floating cloud. He was moving around aimlessly when all of a sudden he came upon ‘a host of golden Daffodils’, that is, a large number of Daffodils. In the poem the Daffodils are called a ‘crowd’ which is a collective noun for humans. But the poet induces human qualities in them (personifies) by using words like crowd, dancing, ‘tossed their heads in sprightly dance’(2nd stanza) etc. The daffodils that the poet chanced upon where just beside the lake, fluttering and moving continuously. The Daffodils made a long line with no intermittent gaps, which is why the poet calls them ‘continuous’ like the innumerable stars lining in the sky, shining on our galaxy. These golden flowers lined along the boundary of a bay( a smaller mass of water finally joining a larger mass like an ocean) like cheerful happy humans tossing their heads in a dance-like movement. The poet uses hyperbole (exaggeration) when he says he saw ten thousand of the flowers at a glance because it is impossible for someone to see ten thousand of flowers in a simple glimpse or even be able to tell the count of the flowers.

Stanza 3-4

In stanza 3, the poet says that even the waves beside the daffodils ‘danced’ (the poet also uses personification here). However the daffodils outshone in their dancing because they drew more attention of the poet and made him joyful and happy. ‘Dancing’ of daffodils and the waves create an atmosphere of happiness and cheerfulness in the poem. The poet says that he could be nothing but happy to be surrounded by such a jocund(personification used), that is jocular and joyful company. He would thus just let all the natural beauty leave an imprint in his mind by continuously gazing at them and admiring them. He never imagined that a phenomenon like the movement of daffodils and the scenic beauty could bring so much bliss to his mind.

The poet writes the following 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 the Daffodils.

The poet realizes the value of his daffodils sighting when he is bored or unhappy; it is because it is at this time that imagining the scene of the fluttering daffodils makes him happy and joyful. His heart ‘dances with the Daffodils’, that is his heart flutters in happiness when he imagines the natural beauty he has sighted previously. The poet calls this feeling a bliss of his solitude, that is a happiness when he is alone.

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