Romantic Period Poem

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.

    This poem is a very exquisite piece of writing in that it is able to romanticize what is seemingly unromanticizable: loneliness, the seeming exact opposite of romance. When one begins reading, they are immediately introduced to a whole new perspective on the subject of solitude and loneliness in life. The author describes how while he is alone he is not truly alone. He goes on to explain how this is possible by describe how he sees a crowd fluttering and dancing near him ,however the organisms in the crowd are not humans like most would suspect, but are instead daffodils in the breeze. After describing the daffodils more clearly and vividly the author further describes his surroundings on the bay and how, as a poet, he is in such jocund company with the daffodils and waves and even the stars in the sky. By the end, the author shows the reader that the place was, in fact, not real (or at least not the current surroundings of the author) but instead in the author's imagination, his 'happy place' if you will. The author, throughout the poem, continues to romanticize the solitude he feels by revealing to the reader that, while he is alone and without a companion, he is happy and longs to be in that state ,no matter whether literally or mentally.