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 the bay:
Ten thousand saw I at a glance,
Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.
The waves beside them danced; but they
Outdid 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._
* * * * *
MILKY WAY, the belt of light seen at night in the heavens, and is
composed of millions of stars.
1st stanza: Explain, "I wandered lonely." To what does the poet compare
his loneliness?
What did the poet see "all at once?" Where? What were the daffodils
doing?
What picture do the first two lines bring to mind? Describe the picture
contained in the remaining lines of this stanza.
2d stanza: How does the poet tell what a great crowd of daffodils there
were? How would you tell it?
How does he say the daffodils were arranged? What does _margin_ mean?
How many daffodils did he see? In this stanza, what does he say they
were doing?
3d stanza: What is said of the waves? In what did the daffodils surpass
the waves?
What do the third and fourth lines of this stanza mean?
4th stanza: What does "in vacant mood" mean? "In pensive mood?" "Inward
eye?"
How does this inward eye make bliss for us in solitude?
What feelings did the thought of what he saw awaken in the heart of the
poet?
What changed the wanderer's loneliness, as told at the beginning of the
poem, to gayety, as told towards the end?
Commit the poem to memory.
[Illustration:]
* * * * *
_60_
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