The Full Text of “I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud”
1I wandered lonely as a cloud
2That floats on high o'er vales and hills,
3When all at once I saw a crowd,
4A host, of golden daffodils;
5Beside the lake, beneath the trees,
6Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.
7Continuous as the stars that shine
8And twinkle on the milky way,
9They stretched in never-ending line
10Along the margin of a bay:
11Ten thousand saw I at a glance,
12Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.
13The waves beside them danced; but they
14Out-did the sparkling waves in glee:
15A poet could not but be gay,
16In such a jocund company:
17I gazed—and gazed—but little thought
18What wealth the show to me had brought:
19For oft, when on my couch I lie
20In vacant or in pensive mood,
21They flash upon that inward eye
22Which is the bliss of solitude;
23And then my heart with pleasure fills,
24And dances with the daffodils.
The Full Text of “I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud”
1I wandered lonely as a cloud
2That floats on high o'er vales and hills,
3When all at once I saw a crowd,
4A host, of golden daffodils;
5Beside the lake, beneath the trees,
6Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.
7Continuous as the stars that shine
8And twinkle on the milky way,
9They stretched in never-ending line
10Along the margin of a bay:
11Ten thousand saw I at a glance,
12Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.
13The waves beside them danced; but they
14Out-did the sparkling waves in glee:
15A poet could not but be gay,
16In such a jocund company:
17I gazed—and gazed—but little thought
18What wealth the show to me had brought:
19For oft, when on my couch I lie
20In vacant or in pensive mood,
21They flash upon that inward eye
22Which is the bliss of solitude;
23And then my heart with pleasure fills,
24And dances with the daffodils.
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“I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud” Introduction
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“I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud” Summary
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“I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud” Themes
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Nature and Humanity
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Memory and Imagination
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Line-by-Line Explanation & Analysis of “I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud”
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Lines 1-2
I wandered lonely as a cloud
That floats on high o'er vales and hills, -
Lines 3-6
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. -
Lines 7-12
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. -
Lines 13-18
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: -
Lines 19-24
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.
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“I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud” Symbols
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Daffodils
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“I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud” Poetic Devices & Figurative Language
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Personification
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Simile
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Assonance
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Consonance
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Alliteration
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Caesura
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Enjambment
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Sibilance
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Polysyndeton
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Hyperbole
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“I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud” Vocabulary
Select any word below to get its definition in the context of the poem. The words are listed in the order in which they appear in the poem.
- o'er
- vales
- host
- daffodils
- sprightly
- glee
- gay
- jocund
- oft
- vacant
- inward eye
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- See where this vocabulary word appears in the poem.
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Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme of “I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud”
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Form
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Meter
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Rhyme Scheme
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“I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud” Speaker
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“I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud” Setting
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Literary and Historical Context of “I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud”
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More “I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud” Resources
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External Resources
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A Reading — The poem read by Jeremy Irons.
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Daffodils at Ullswater — Photos and video of daffodils at the actual location mentioned in Wordsworth's account of the walk.
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Nature and Wordsworth — A short BBC clip about Wordsworth's early relationship with nature.
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Biography and other poems — A useful resource from TPoetry Foundation.
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Preface to Lyrical Ballads — The preface to Coleridge and Wordsworth's 1798 book, Lyrical Ballads.
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LitCharts on Other Poems by William Wordsworth
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