I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud (The Daffodils) by William Wordsworth( Second Year)

About the author:

William Wordsworth (7 April 1770 – 23 April 1850) was an English Romantic poet who used to live in Lake District (England), with Samuel Taylor Coleridge, helped to launch the Romantic Age in English literature with their joint publication Lyrical Ballads (1798).

William Wordsworth, the second child of John Wordsworth and Ann Cookson, was born on April 7, 1770, at Wordsworth House in Cockermouth, Cumberland, which is now known as the Lake District. Throughout his lifetime, William Wordsworth maintained a close bond with his sister Dorothy Wordsworth, who was a poet and diarist. Wordsworth was Poet Laureate from 1843 until his death from pleurisy on 23 April 1850.

"I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud," otherwise referred to as "The Daffodils," is Wordsworth's lyric poem that predominantly explores the poet's emotional response to the beauty of the natural environment. According to the poem, true encounters with nature have the power to fill one's heart with happiness and bestow wisdom.

The poem "I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud," written in 1804, stands as William Wordsworth's most celebrated work, published in his 1807 collection Poems in Two Volumes. The poem captures the moment April 15, 1802, when William Wordsworth and his sister Dorothy stumbled upon a long belt of golden daffodils near Lake Ullswater in Grasmere, England.

About the structure of the poem:

 “I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud” also known as “The Daffodils,” is a lyrical poem in Four Stanzas written in Iambic Tetrameter. And, the rhyme scheme of the poem is ABABCC.

 

 

I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud 

                                     BY WILLIAM WORDSWORTH

 

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. 

 

Vocabulary:

Lonely (adjective): Alone (अकेला)

Solitude (noun): loneliness, isolation (अकेलापन)

Host (noun):  A person who invites guests and provides hospitality.

                       (अतिथियों का सत्‍कार करने वाला व्यक्ति/आतिथेय/ मेज़बान)

Pensive (adjective): Joyless/ Dolorous (चिंताग्रस्त)

Jocund (adjective): Cheerful, lively (हँसमुख/आनन्दित)

Gaze (verb): stare (घूरना)

Bliss (noun):     happiness/ joyfulness (परम आनंद)

 Figures of Speech used in the poem  (कविता में प्रयुक्त अलंकार):

Figures of Speech (भाषा के अलंकार)	Examples from The Poem
Simile (उपमा): A simile compares two unlike things using "like" or "as". (उपमा दो विपरीत चीजों के बीच तुलना है जिसमें "जैसा"/” तरह” शब्दों का उपयोग किया जाता है।) Example:        1. Laxman walks like a lion.        2. Tom eats like a pig. Here: Laxman (Human)                                  Lion (Animal)	1. “I wondered lonely as a cloud.” 2. “Continuous as the stars that shine”
Metaphor (रूपक):  Metaphor is the art of comparing two totally different things without using "like" or "as". (रूपक  दो भिन्न चीज़ों के बीच संबंध स्थापित करते हैं। “जैसा"/” तरह” शब्दों का उपयोग किए बिना।) Example:          1. Laxman is a lion.          2. Tom is a pig.	1. “Golden daffodils” 2. “They flash upon that inward eye.”
Personification ( मनुष्यगुणारोप/ मानवीकरण)):  Personification is a literary device that humanizes inanimate objects for imagery.  Example:                 1. The sky is crying.                 2. The moon looked down to me.	1. When all at once I saw a crowd.” 2. “Fluttering and dancing in the breeze” 3. “Tossing their heads in sprightly dance” 4. “The waves beside them danced; but they, Out-did the sparkling waves in glee”
Alliteration (अनुप्रास): Alliteration is the term given to the repetition of the same sound or letter (Consonant Sound) at the beginning of words in a phrase. (किसी वाक्यांश में शब्दों की शुरुआत में एक ही व्यंजन ध्वनि या अक्षर की पुनरावृत्ति को अनुप्रास कहते हैं I) Example:               1. Pooja prays for Pappu. (repetition of the sound P)	1. “Beside the lake, beneath the trees” [b sound] 2. “What wealth the show to me had brought” 3. “I gazed and gazed”
Imagery (चित्रात्मक): This figure of speech makes readers to visualize the writer’s feelings, emotions, or ideas. ( यह अलंकार लेखक की भावनाओं या विचारों को समझने के लिए पाठकों को कल्पना कराता है I)	1.“lonely as a cloud” 2. “a crowd” 3.“never-ending line” 4. “milky way” 5. “jocund company”

 

 

Multiple-Choice Questions:

1. Wordsworth died in

a) 1860

b) 1850

c) 1832

e) 1840

2. Wordsworth was born in  [B.A. 2023(Suppl.)]

a) Boston

b) London

c) Cockermouth

d) Warwick

3. What was Wordsworth's sister's name?

a) Ruth

b) Elizabeth

c) Lucy

d) Dorothy

4. William Wordsworth was appointed Poet Laureate in?

a) 1830

b) 1837

c) 1843

d) 1850

5. Wordsworth was the poet of…  [B.A. 2022;  2023(Suppl.);  B.Sc. 2023]

a) city

b) love

c) nature

d) America

6. The mood of 'The Daffodils' poem is:

a) Sadness

b) Joy

c) Anger

d) Fear

7. The rhyme scheme of the poem “Daffodils” is

a) ABCABC

b) ABBACC

c) ABABCC

d) ABBACC

8. William Wordsworth’s “Daffodils” is a [2023]

a) Narrative poem

b) Sonnet

c) Lyric poem

d) Story

9. In the line "I wandered lonely as a cloud," the pronoun "I" represent---

a) The bird

b) The daffodils

c) The poet

d) The cloud

10. The poet compares himself to [B.Sc. 2023]

a) A bird

b) A daffodils

c) A river

d) A cloud

11. The Daffodils are compared to

a) river

b) gold

c) stars

d) lake

12. Where was the poet wandering as lonely as a cloud?

 a) over the valleys and hills 

 b) over the highway

 c)over the ocean

 d)over the beautiful garden

13. Where did the poet see Daffodils?

a) beside the sea and beneath the pine trees

b) in the garden

c) beside the saplings 

d) beside the lake and beneath the trees

14. What are the daffodils doing when the speaker sees them?

a) Singing

b) Sleeping

c) Dancing

d) Listening

15. How many daffodils the Poet saw at a glance? [B.A. 2022]

a) Five Thousand 

b) Ten hundred 

c)Ten Thousand

d) Fifteen Thousand

16. What is the correct definition of “solitude”?

a) Crowded

b) Alone

c) United

d) A large group

17. What is the correct definition of “jocund”?

a) Cheerful

b) Generous

c) Intelligent

d) Sad

18. 'Glee' in 'The Daffodils' means:

a) Sadness

b) badness

c) happiness

d) naughtiness

19. 'Bliss' in the poem 'The Daffodils' means:

a) loneliness

b) joyfulness

c) sinfulness

d) greatness

20. What does “pensive” mean?

a) thoughtful

b) grateful

c) thankful

d) fool

21. What dances in the poem?

a) Daffodils

b) Waves

c) The speaker’s heart

d) All of the above

22. What are the stars in the milky way compared to?

a) The clouds overhead

b) The valleys and hills

c) The lake

d) The many daffodils growing in a line

23. With what does the poet compare the daffodils?

a) twinkling stars on the Milky way

b)  shining sunlight

c) lustrous diamond

d) sparkling light

24. Choose the figure of speech in the line

"Fluttering and dancing in the breeze"

a) Simile

b) Metaphor

c)Personification 

d) Repetition

25. Choose the figure of speech in the line

“Ten thousand saw I at a glance”

a) Simile

b) Metaphor

c)Personification 

d) Hyperbole

26. “What wealth the show to me had brought,” here ‘wealth’ means

a) money

b) gold

c) pleasure

d) daffodils

27. What is the best summary of the poem's theme or central idea?

a) Daffodils are the best dancers

b) When you are feeling lonely, take a walk

c) Humans rarely appreciate the beauty of nature

d) The beauty of nature brings people happiness

28. The title word ‘Daffodils’ refers to….  [B.A. 2023; B.Sc. 2023]

a) Flowers

b) Fruit

c) Trees

d) Birds

29. Daffodils was published in the collection of: [B.A. 2023]

a) Songs and Sonnets

b) Poems in Two Volumes

c) Lyrical Ballads

d) Posthumous Poems

30. Daffodils was published in….  [B.A. 2023]

a) 1906

b) 1807

c) 1804

d) 1901

31. William Wordsworth is known as- [B.Sc. 2023]

a) Classical poet

b) Romantic poet

c) Neo-classical poet

d) Modernist poet

32. Who wrote the Daffodils?  [B.A. 2022]

a) John Donne

b) P.B. Shelley

c) William Wordsworth

d) William Shakespeare

33. The poet saw…daffodils. [B.A. 2022]

a) a few

b) white

c) blue

d) a large number

34. William Wordsworth belong to which literary period?  [B.A. 2022]

a) Victorian age

b) Restoration age

c) Romantic period

d) None of these

35. The colour of daffodil flower is?  [B.A. 2022; B.Sc. 2023]

a) Silver

b) White

c) Golden

d) Black

36. The poem The Daffodils consists of --- [B.A. 2022]

a) Five Stanzas

b) Four Stanzas

c) Three Stanzas

d) Two Stanzas

37. In the phrase” Dance with the daffodils” the act of dancing is: [B.Sc. 2023]

a) Real

b) Symbolic

c) Artificial

d) None of the above

38. The daffodils flower and bloomed along the margin of: [B.Sc. 2023]

a) a sea

b) a bay

c) a river

d) a pool

39. Which wealth is referred to by the poet? [B.Sc. 2023]

a) the moving clouds memory

b) the twinkling stars memory

c) happy memories of the daffodils

d) the lovely imagination

40.Living relationship between man and nature is narrated in the poem [B.A 2023(Suppl.)] 

a) If

b) The Daffodils

c) Echo

d)The Soldier

41. Nature beauty is the theme of  [B.A 2023(Suppl.)]

a) If

b) The Daffodils

c) Echo

d) None of these

42.  Who is William Wordsworth’s father? [B.A 2023(Suppl.)] 

a) James Wordsworth

b) Philip Wordsworth

c) John Wordsworth

d) None of thess