Here are the figures of speech in the third stanza of "Daffodils," by William Wordsworth:
The waves beside them danced, [personification=waves given human characteristics],but they/Out-did the sparkling waves in glee;[personification]/
A poet [metonymy=a part to represent the whole: "poet" represents all people] could not but be gay,/
In such a jocund company [personification=daffodils are happy like people]:/I gaze--and gazed--but little thought/
What wealth [metaphor: "wealth"=contentment, meaning] the show [metaphor for the beauty of Nature in the "show" of the daffodils] to me had brought
In 1762 when Jean-Jacques Rousseau published The Social Contract, this Romanticist wrote that man is born free, yet "we see him everywhere in chains." Like Rousseau, Wordsworth perceives the breaking free of these chains of society in order to regain communion with Nature as highly desirable. Indeed, man's melancholy is caused by the unnatural restraints of society. When he gazes at daffodils (Nature) and senses the beauty and joy of Nature, he is free and happy. Wordsworth, like Henry David Thoreau, felt that man's existential meaning was derived from the rural scene rather than in the cities, the centers of civilization. Until he sees the "jocund" daffodils, the poet "wanders lonely as a cloud," but once in touch with Nature and its happy beauty, he finds meaning and joy in his life with the expression of human emotion. ("What wealth the show to me had brought.") For, when the poet senses again the beauty of the daffodils, his "heart with pleasure fills."
Can you analyze the first stanza if "I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud" and show the figures of speech in the poem?
In the first stanza of "I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud," Wordsworth puts himself in the place of a cloud, and states that he (the cloud) "wandered lonely...o'er vales and hills" and then down below him, saw an entire "crowd" of daffodils. Simply put, a cloud is wandering, or floating over some hills, when it comes upon a field filled with daffodils. It is a pretty straightforward stanza, and sets up the rest of the poem.
Wordsworth uses personification to compare the daffodils to a "crowd". Personification is where you give inanimate objects human-like traits, and daffodils can't crowd together like humans can. Crowding implies action and choice. He continues with personification when he says that the daffodils are "dancing" in the breeze; only humans can dance, so he is personfying the daffodils there. Check out the last line of the second stanza also, where the flowers are "tossing their heads in a sprightly dance." This too is personification, and that continues throughout the entire poem, so watch for it.
Wordsworth also uses a simile in the poem (comparing two things using like or as); the first line of stanza two has him saying the flowers are "continuous as the stars that shine." Later, he uses a metaphor when he compares the flowers to being at the edge of a bay, jumping and jostling on the "waves" of the wind.
Those are just a few techniques in the poem; I hope that those thoughs help. ...
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Please analyze the fourth stanza of "I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud" and show the figures of speech?
The fourth stanza of this poem shows the speaker away from the daffodils, at home, and thinking back upon them. The thought is demonstrated as a picture in his "inner eye." This picture brings him joy and he "dances with the daffodils." The rejuvenating spirit of nature is highlighted in this stanza, and Wordsworth uses personification and metaphor in this stanza for his meaning.
First he personifies the daffodils, giving them the power to "flash upon" his inner eye. This echoes the personification of the earlier stanzas, when Wordsworth brings the daffodils to life in their dancing ways. The reason for this is to honor this aspect of nature in a humanly way, giving it more importance and power.
Metaphor is used in the last two lines, when the speaker suggests that he "dances" with them. He is comparing his uplifted spirits with a literal dance in order to demonstrate how effective the image of nature is in uplifting his spirits.