Response to William Wordsworth’s ‘I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud’

Response to William Wordsworth’s ‘I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud’ It is most difficult, I feel, to compose a response to William Wordsworth’s classic and idolised poem, ‘I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud’ in such few words. A response to a poem may be seen as a reflection on features such as the language, the imagery and certainly, how the poem made me feel. I will however attempt to outline the influence this poem has had on me, considering the aforementioned features. This poem has evidently stood the test of time.
It has breezed through generation after generation being read and reread and this, I believe, is due to its simplistic, yet compelling, story it tells. The first three stanzas are a collection of beautiful images painted by the use of comprehensible yet rich language. The language may be considered plain, however, I feel it echoes a calm and tranquil atmosphere as it does not busy the reader. Wordsworth is describing this truly memorable experience by personifying ‘the host of golden daffodils’.
He does this throughout the poem for example at the close of the second stanza: ‘Tossing their heads in sprightly dance. ’ This, I believe, adds life to the poem. This personification links the language with incredible imagery. I, as a reader, have entered Wordsworth’s memory and I envisage this alluring scene; the countless daffodils ‘dancing in the breeze’. This further creates a more wondrous and astounding ambience that fulfils the reader like it fulfils Wordsworth in stanza three: ‘A poet could not but be gay’.

William Wordsworth stated that “Poetry is a spontaneous overflow of emotion, not the emotion of the actual experience, but the emotion recollected in tranquillity’’. I believe his poem ‘I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud’ is a justified example of this quote. I truly admire this poem as it tells a story of Wordsworth’s feelings toward nature. It, in turn, gave me a positive and joyous outlook on the art of nature unleashing feelings similar to Wordsworth in the final stanza: ‘And then my heart with pleasure fills’.