I wandered lonely as a cloud “What wealth the show to me had brought”?

May 30, 2011 James 4 comments

Written by Ladypro about 1 year ago.

ummmm…
Written by jamesmom2 about 1 year ago.

A host, of golden daffodils
Written by captaindestroyo about 1 year ago.

Basically the poem says that the speaker had this really awesome blissful experience with nature, but that the MEMORY of the experience is more special than the experience itself, because the memory keeps him from the duldrums and loneliness of everyday life and cheers his spirit when he’s in a “vacant or pensive mood”.
Written by Bob Sacamano about 1 year ago.

The line also ties into Wordsworth’s belief that poetic thought

‘[...] takes its origin from emotion recollected in tranquillity: the emotion is contemplated till, by a species of reaction, the tranquillity gradually disappears, and an emotion, kindred to that which was before the subject of contemplation, is gradually produced, and does itself actually exist in the mind. In this mood successful composition generally begins, and in a mood similar to this it is carried on [...]‘ [1]

So the initial sighting of the daffodils elicited a strong emotional response from Wordsworth, but it is only in reflecting upon that emotional response that he is able to articulate it in poetry. Note the use of the past tense: he *wandered*, not *wanders*.

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