Daffodil Art and Wordsworth Poem

in #art7 years ago (edited)

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-

Wordsworth wrote this poem after taking a walk with his sister Dorothy where suddenly they came upon a belt of Daffodils by Glencoyne Bay, Ullswater, in the Lake District.

"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 and that the little colony had so sprung up – But as we went along there were more and yet more and 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 about and about them, some rested their heads upon these stones as on a pillow for weariness and the rest tossed and reeled and danced and seemed as if they verily laughed with the wind that blew upon them over the Lake, they looked so gay ever dancing ever changing. This wind blew directly over the lake to them. There was here and there a little knot and a few stragglers a few yards higher up but they were so few as not to disturb the simplicity and unity and life of that one busy highway – We rested again and again. The Bays were stormy and we heard the waves at different distances and in the middle of the water like the Sea."

— Dorothy Wordsworth, The Grasmere Journal Thursday, 15 April 1802.
Source: Wikipedia

Wordsworth marked the beginning of the romantic period in English literature history. His ideas about what poetry should be, influenced all later romantic poetry and is summed up in this sentence: 'Poetry is the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings: it takes its origin from emotion recollected in tranquility.' We clearly see this principle in action in the last verse:

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

Here the poet is home in his own coach, reliving the experience in his mind. This is where the poem is created, in the solitary reflection and silent remembrance of powerful emotions.

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Lovely post :)

thank you :)

Hello ... beautiful these words

yes indeed! I had never read any of Wordsworth's poems until I started taking this class in western literature from 1700 to 1900 at uni this semester. It is so much fun! we read beautiful poems and novels and discuss them with a teacher and other students, today we went through this poem among others, so I wanted to share it with all of you Steemit friends :D

thank you for sharing
Western literature and poetry as well as Eastern ... We may find some different meanings and wording of words ... But the calculation of words, whatever the poem of the East or West ... Sense of words one

Creative..
Nice post.!!
@camilla

Thank you for posting @camilla.

Lovely artwork and accompanying poetry and history.

Appreciate you bringing this to Steemit.....they are Spring favourites...both the daffodil and the poem.

Wishing you and yours all the best. Cheers.

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