Maliha Jabeen Khan asked 6 years ago
In the poem “I wandered lonely as a cloud” by William Wordsworth we see the poet’s love of nature. Discuss.
William Wordsworth, the most prominent poet of the Romantic age, is known as a nature-lover and a nature-poet. The poem “Daffodils” is one of the finest examples of the expression of the poet’s love of nature. From the very first line of the poem to the finishing end, he shows this love.
In the first stanza of “Daffodils” Wordsworth compares himself to a cloud that floats high over valleys and hills. Then he goes on to describe how he came across a host of golden daffodils which were ‘fluttering and dancing in the breeze”. He personifies the daffodils as if they were happy and dancing just like a human being would do, compares the flowers to the shining stars on the Milky Way, and compares their happiness with that of the waves in the lake beside them. Finally, the poet reflects on what joy the memory of those flowers bring to his mind when he is in a vacant or pensive mood.
The poet acclaims, “A poet could not but be gay, / In such a jocund company:” He also uses “I gazed and gazed” to express how charmed he had been by the daffodils. And the final lines ” And then my heart with pleasure fills,/ And dances with the daffodils” says it all. Moreover, flowers, lake, trees, valleys, hills, cloud, stars — mention of all these natural objects is not a mere coincidence. This is a deliberate attempt from the poet to write of all the things that bring him joy, that make him happy. That essentially suggests only one thing — the poet is a lover of nature.
Wordsworth is a lover of nature. The poet in the beginning wanders lonely like a cloud, where he suddenly sees a vast belt of golden daffodils stretched along the margin of the bay. The daffodils appear to be golden in colour, symbolising the magical effect it creates on mind. As the poem progresses the mood of the poet changes to happiness. What is important in the romantic poetry is the poet’s oneness with nature. Therefore on reflecting on the memory of golden daffodils fluttering and dancing, the poet’s heart also dances with the daffodils. The poet feels one with nature.
William Wordsworth is a poet whose most of the poems are about nature and we can see that the poem Daffodils is also about his feelings on nature. He expresses his feeling through the poem and makes us understand that he is a nature lover. He always writes about nature to tell us how nature is. He has explored and presented nature to us. And his felling is expressed well.
