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I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud

by William Wordsworth

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Emotional Impact of Daffodils in "I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud"

Summary:

In William Wordsworth's "I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud," the speaker's mood shifts dramatically upon encountering a field of daffodils. Initially feeling lonely and disconnected, the speaker is uplifted by the sight of "ten thousand" daffodils dancing beside a lake, described with vivid imagery and personification. The daffodils, compared to stars in the Milky Way, bring immense joy and companionship. This memory continues to provide solace and pleasure during moments of solitude and pensiveness, highlighting nature's enduring emotional impact.

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How does the speaker's mood change upon seeing the daffodils in "I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud"?

The speaker is lonely and at loose ends in the first two lines of the poem, which are as follows:

I wandered lonely as a cloud
That floats on high o'er vales and hills
The imagery of being a cloud floating on "high" suggests that the speaker is feeling disconnected and alienated from the world around him. He is drifting and not connecting with his surroundings.
His mood changes dramatically, however, when he sees the daffodils. There are thousands of them blooming in front of a lake and swaying together in the wind. The sight fills him with joy. He says he has no choice but to become "gay," or happy, in such company.
This is a quintessential Wordsworth poem. It celebrates nature and captures a moment of deep emotion recollected in tranquillity, which Wordsworth wrote was the goal of his poetry. In the last stanza of the poem, his speaker ruminates on how much joy remembering the daffodils brings him later on, when he is inside his house in a thoughtful mood. He calls this kind of remembering "bliss." He writes of it:
And then my heart with pleasure fills,
And dances with the daffodils.
In other words, it is the simple pleasures that bring the most joy, Wordsworth says.
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How does the speaker's mood change upon seeing the daffodils in "I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud"?

Stanza one of Wordsworth's poem reads:

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. 
In lines one and two the speaker, or person narrating the poem (not necessarily the author of the poem), explains that he was "wandering lonely." The speaker uses a simile to compare their movement to the movement of a cloud floating above rolling hills. At that moment, a transition happens as he suddenly notices a great number, which he describes as a "crowd" of daffodils. This description of the daffodils as a "crowd" or "host" is an example of figurative language. We know that this isn't literally a crowd, like a crowd of people. Yet, we understand that he is implying that there is a large number of flowers clustered in this spot. 
In the first two lines, he describes his mood as "lonely." But when he sees the flowers, he is no longer lonely. Now he is surrounded by a cluster of apparently cheerful flowers, since they are "fluttering and dancing in the breeze." This energetic diction shows the improvement that the flowers made on the speaker's mood. At first he was wandering lonely. The word wandering  implies a slowness of pace; in the same way, clouds usually glide slowly through the sky. However, the flowers are dancing in the wind. This increasing action once more emphasizes the positive progression of the speaker's mood. 
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How are the daffodils described in "I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud"?

In “I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud,” the speaker dwells on two features of the daffodils that he stumbles upon along the edge of the bay:  their number, and their movement in the breeze.  He describes them first as a “host,” in the sense of a great number, and then states in the second verse that they are “continuous as the stars that shine…They stretched in a never-ending line.”  It is clear that we have a huge number of daffodils on our hands; the speaker notes that there are at least “ten thousand,” likely many more, stretching all along the edge of the bay off into the distance.  This imagery is foolproof and conjures up a field of bright “golden” flowers as far as the eye can see.

In addition, the speaker sees the flowers all “Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.”  There is a sturdy sea-breeze blowing along the water, and the daffodils are all being bent forward and back by its light force.  By being described as dancing, and as having heads, the daffodils are being personified – that is, they are being given human characteristics  -- which reinforces the living quality of nature.  In the next verse, the daffodils “out-did the sparkling waves in glee,” and are then described as “jocund.”  The flowers are, by their color and their movement, exceedingly joyful beings, and raise the spirits of the speaker to such an extent that he thinks of them even when he is at home on his couch, and the memory makes him happy.

The daffodils are described as conscious beings, as living things with the capacity to express happiness, and this gives a purposefulness to nature, and helps to justify its healing quality in the minds of human beings.

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What is the central idea of Wordsworth's poem "The Daffodils"?

At the beginning of the poem, the speaker is feeling lonely and sad. As he walks along, he sees a large area of daffodils along the side of a lake, blowing in the breeze with bright yellow flowers reflected in the water in spite of the waves due to the wind. The sight of the flowers on the shore and their reflection cheers him greatly. To the poet, these flowers are not just pretty, but cheerful and joyous company that brings him out of his loneliness. Best of all, the poet finds that the memory of the sight of the daffodils stays with him, giving him companionship and joy when he is "in vacant or in pensive mood."

The central idea of the poem is the expression of the comfort and cheering the author finds in the beauty of observing the daffodils.

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What changes the speaker's mood in "I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud" and how?

In "I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud" by William Wordsworth, the speaker is out walking in nature. His mood is "lonely" as he wanders aimlessly along. Suddenly, he sees a field of daffodils. One imagines him coming up over a rise and seeing spread out before him a luxurious field of the yellow flowers blowing in the breeze. Stanza 3 describes the change in mood the speaker experiences upon seeing the unexpected flora. The flowers, he imagines, are more gleeful than the dancing waves. He catches the spirit and says, "A poet could not but be gay, In such a jocund company." Jocund, not a word we use often, means lighthearted and cheerful. Gay is a synonym. The flowers seem happy because of their bright yellow color and their free and easy movement that looks like dancing. Their imagined happiness is catching; the poet takes on a bright and joyful mood just from watching the field of flowers.

Another mood change is mentioned in the last stanza. Now the poet feels either "vacant" or "pensive." Vacant means that nothing important is occupying his mind. Pensive means that he is thinking of weighty or serious matters. At such times, the memory of the field of daffodils comes back to him, and again it changes his mood, causing him to feel just as cheerful and lighthearted as when he first came across the golden field of flowers.

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What feeling does the speaker have toward daffodils in stanza 3 of "I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud?"

I believe that the final two lines of the stanza best represent the speaker's feelings toward the daffodils. He says,

I gazed—and gazed—but little thought
What wealth the show to me had brought[.]

In these lines, the speaker reveals his sense of wonder at the dancing, gleeful daffodils with the repetition of the word gazed. The repetition of this word, including the second use where it is set apart with em dashes (which slow down the pace of the line by alerting the reader that we ought to pause both before and after the phrase inside) we can see that he must have paused to watch them for quite a long time. He seems thunderstruck, riveted by the beauty of the flowers so that he cannot move on; however, he is not entirely thoughtful in these moments, as he claims that he did not realize then the wealth the flowers offered him. In this particular moment, he can only gaze at their beauty in wonder and awe.

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What feeling does the speaker have toward daffodils in stanza 3 of "I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud?"

The following lines represent the speaker's feelings toward the daffodils, with an emphasis on the word "gay;"

A poet could not but be gay,
In such a jocund company
 The poet is saying that, as he watches the multitudes of bright golden daffodils seemingly dancing in the spring breeze as the waves of the lake sparkle behind them, he cannot help but feel "gay," which, at the time the poem was written, meant happy or lighthearted. Seeing the waving daffodils makes him feel joyful. He says it would be impossible for a sensitive person, ie, "a poet," to feel any other way when in such "jocund," meaning laughing or jolly, company, as the flowers provide. He is having the kind of moment of joy and bliss we all sometimes experience when we suddenly are struck by the incredible beauty of a simple scene, such as the sight of daffodils blowing in the wind. 
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In "I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud," how does the "crowd" change the speaker's feelings?

The speaker feels lonely wandering the British Lake District in early spring when he sees a crowd of daffodils:

I saw a crowd,

A host, of golden daffodils;

Beside the lake, beneath the trees,

Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.

The speaker's mood changes as he watches the daffodils. The flowers have bloomed in a vast profusion in front of a lake. The breeze blows them back and forth so that they look like a crowd of people dancing,

Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.

The daffodils seem, to the speaker, full of "glee."

Wordsworth personifies (gives human characteristics to) the daffodils. As he views them, the speaker is no longer lonely and sad. Instead, his heart lifts and he becomes joyous as he watches their show. He states that he has no choice but to happy:

A poet could not but be gay,

In such a jocund [jolly] company....

Later, the speaker tells us that the memory of the daffodils is a gift that keeps on giving. In colder weather, lying on his sofa, the speaker can lift his mood higher by remembering the swaying, lively, joyful daffodils.

In many ways, this is a perfect example of a Romantic poem. First, nature is celebrated and has a healing power, bringing the poet's mood from dejection to joy. Second, it uses simple language to describe a simple scene. Third, it communicates to us that we don't have to spend vast sums on pleasure: taking a walk and being open to what is in front of us can bring us lasting joy. Fourth, emotions are described, making the poem lyrical: the Romantics wished to capture emotions as they recalled them in more tranquil states. Finally, memory is celebrated as an important gift.

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