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.
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.
What a beautiful poem by William Wordsworth.
Takes me back to the school days where we used to do analysis of poems and short pieces of writings and try and interpret why they were written the way they were. I could not imagine that I would embark on a day like this when I would just love to sit days on end and try and figure out the various different semantics of poems like these. Its funny how we run away from things and just as we let go of them rather they let go of us we find ourselves running back to them.. ..
Anyhow, coming back to this poem.
It exemplifies an oxymoron in a very wierd way. Well, at least in the first paragraph it does. At least I think it does.How every line has an impulse set up and how there is a comparison and one and many. The poem starts off with the spotlight on "I" and then quickly changes the subjects to "vales and hills." Between the Singularity and Plurality. The back and forth motion continues. Only this time between an "I" and the "crowd." The comparison is made in a very simple fashion. No wrapping of the words. Its almost as if a Climax is intended. How the same idea is illustrated in ways more than one. Fluttering and Dancing again depicts the same idea. Fluttering being a haphazard motion whereas Dancing being a carefully thought out well planned one.
In the second paragraph almost a delicate, fragile touch is given to the feel of the subject by using "Along the margins of a bay." Again this is further elucidated by using the word Sprightly which is often used with reference to an old person. . .
Yoh! I could sit there interpreting the whole poem line by line. And what makes it more enchanting is that every time I see the poem I see more patterns and more ways of thinking about what message the poem was trying to convey. I could definitely go on and on. .
I never was so enthusiastic in class back in school with these type of things. I tried but never quite managed to hit it spot on. Always wondered how some people could see the deeper meaning in things. How they could just see the light in the darkness..hmm okaye I think I am getting tooo dramatic here but nevertheless my point is proven.
Which by the way brings me to an insight! Well it goes like this...
Never be afraid to ask for something. Always keep on wanting something or the other. If you ever dont wish for something you ever wont get your hands on anything. So in short: Dream Big and Dream You Must! Coz at the end of the day if you find passion in what you do even if you suck big time at it there will come a day when you wont be so bad!
