THE DAFFODILS
William Wordsworth
ABOUT THE POET
William WordsWorth is One of the pioneers of the Romantic Movement n England. He was Called the poet of nature. He along with his friend Coleridge brought a new trend (movement, development) in poetry. Both of them stressed the need for a return to nature. Wordsworth is very much a Personal poet, he always liked about his experience with nature. The poem The Daffodils (plant with trumpet shaped yellow flowers) is one such example.
Summary and Explanation
The poem talks about the feeling of the poet with the daffodils. One day the poet finds he large collection of Daffodils. The flowers impress him much. After a few days, he wrote the poetry The Daffodils. In this way, the poem supports the theory of Wordsworth that poetry is a Spontaneous (impulsive, natural) Overflow (flood, spread out) of powerful feelings, recollected in tranquility (calm, quiet, silence, Harmony). The language of the poem is very simple. The Subject is also very Common. Many people see the flowers but like Wordsworth they do not feel like writing poetry.
The poet once wandering lonely as a cloud. He is floating high over valleys and hills. During his wandering, he comes across a host of golden daffodils. They are lying by the side of the lake. They are waving and dancing in the light wind. The daffodils are shining like the stars. The way there is no end to the stars, the flowers has also been spread out in the infinite (never ending, endless, unlimited) lines. According to the poet, they must be about ten thousand in number.
The waves also dance along with the flowers. Having seen such a scene, the poet is also very happy. He is happy being in the company of the flowers. The poet gazes(stare, look, fix your eyes on) at them steadily. However, he has no idea of the joy that the flowers can bring to him. The poet says that whenever on his sette(sofa, couch), he lies in a thinking mood, he is reminded of the flowers and his heart also dance with the daffodils. In this way, the flowers are the source of joy for the poet. His one experience becomes his lifetime experience. His memory gives him highest pleasure.
Thus the poet once again proves that nature is the real source of joy. He indirectly gives people the message that they should stop running after materialistic (money- oriented) things for joy. The materialistic things can provide a joy that is temporary and artificial. In short, the message of the poem is to return to nature for real joy.