I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud Analytical Response

The poem I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud, by William Wordsworth, explores the emotional and physical impacts that can be explored in a journey. The poem tells the story of Wordsworth and how he comes across a field of daffodils and recounts the effect that they had on him. It illustrates the concepts that journeys can have a substantial long-term effect on an individual and also that journeys can be an individual process. In the poem the persona’s view of the world is dramatically changed after he came across the daffodils and the effect stayed with him forever.

Journeys can have substantial long-term effects on people that can stay with a person for their whole life. In I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud, William Wordsworth shows how the experiences of seeing the daffodils affected him and how the impact has lasted with him forever. He makes many references to his emotions that were at the time of when he saw the daffodils and also when he reflects back on them through his memories. In the last stanza, Wordsworth emphasises the effect as he looks back on the experience. The final rhyming couplet “And then my heart with pleasure fills, and dances with the daffodils” reinforces the effect of the experience in his later life. Also, because of the long-term effect that the daffodils had on him, he is able to reflect back to the experience when he is feeling sad or lonely “They flash upon my inward eye which is the bliss of solitude”. This personification suggests that he has a good connection with them and when he looks back on the experience, he feels brighter and happier. This is also emphasised by using the word ‘bliss’ because it tells us that he feels joy that he can go on his imaginative journey. In this poem, Wordsworth explores how journeys can affect people in ways that can stay with them forever and has a considerable effect on them.

Secondly, in the poem, Wordsworth explores that journeys can be an individual experience. Individual journeys can be both physical and emotional, which is shown throughout the poem. In the beginning of the poem, the persona wanders by himself. In the simile “I wandered lonely as a cloud” in the title and first line, Wordsworth suggests a feeling of solidarity and separation. This leads to a sense of sadness because of the use of the word “lonely’. Also, by comparing himself to a cloud, he also suggests that he is above the world and by himself. In the final stanza, Wordsworth explains that he can go back to the experience with the daffodils when he is alone and “In vacant or in pensive mood.” This suggests that when he is feeling lonely, he is able to reflect on that past memory and change the way he feels to something where he feels less alone and also feels he can connect with the daffodils. In the poem I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud, Wordsworth is able to express how journeys can be individual experiences either physically or emotionally.

In I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud, Wordsworth is able to explore many key ideas and concepts about journeys. These concepts include that journeys can be an individual experience and also that journeys can have substantial long-term effects that can stay with the person forever. The poem explores the different ideas about journeys through the many uses of techniques including similes, hyperboles and the continuous personification of the daffodils. Wordsworth’s poem constantly demonstrates the many different ideas that are about journeys.