The Connection Between Man and Nature
The Connection between Man and Nature
The poem, "I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud," tells of a poet's wanderings and his discovery of a field of daffodils by a lake. In the poem the speaker is able to escape reality through nature because it is his memory that is being written about. The reader can use the poem to escape reality through nature because of the imagery and figurative language Wordsworth uses. This poem also deals with the speakers state of mind as he wanders and discovers the field of daffodils and how the memory comforts him when he is "[i]n vacant or in pensive mood" (20). Also brought about by the imagery and figurative language is the connection between the speaker's state of mind and the natural scene. In his poem, "I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud," Wordsworth uses imagery and figurative language by metaphorically comparing the speaker to a natural object, a cloud, and continually personifying daffodils to show the connection between man and nature. In the first stanza the speaker is compared to a cloud as the poet writes that he "wandered lonely as a cloud" (1). As the speaker drifts through his thoughts the path is a lot like a cloud that floats above earth floating in an aimless, light, and free manner. The speaker has no real purpose in his actions. Both the cloud and the speaker are not bound by any obstacle but rather float about earth in lonely solitude. This shows that his mind-set is one in which he does not feel connected to the earthly world so he wanders above it into the celestial realm of the cloud as a spectator of the world below. This mind-set changes, however, when he sees " a crowd, / A host, of golden daffodils" (3-4). At first there is contrast between the speaker and the flowers. This is a result of their positions. The speaker is alone "high o'er vales and hills" while the daffodils outnumber him in a large group "beneath the trees" (2 and 5). As the "crowd" or "host" of daffodils is personified by their
The poem, "I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud," tells of a poet's wanderings and his discovery of a field of daffodils by a lake. In the poem the speaker is able to escape reality through nature because it is his memory that is being written about. The reader can use the poem to escape reality through nature because of the imagery and figurative language Wordsworth uses. This poem also deals with the speakers state of mind as he wanders and discovers the field of daffodils and how the memory comforts him when he is "[i]n vacant or in pensive mood" (20). Also brought about by the imagery and figurative language is the connection between the speaker's state of mind and the natural scene. In his poem, "I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud," Wordsworth uses imagery and figurative language by metaphorically comparing the speaker to a natural object, a cloud, and continually personifying daffodils to show the connection between man and nature. In the first stanza the speaker is compared to a cloud as the poet writes that he "wandered lonely as a cloud" (1). As the speaker drifts through his thoughts the path is a lot like a cloud that floats above earth floating in an aimless, light, and free manner. The speaker has no real purpose in his actions. Both the cloud and the speaker are not bound by any obstacle but rather float about earth in lonely solitude. This shows that his mind-set is one in which he does not feel connected to the earthly world so he wanders above it into the celestial realm of the cloud as a spectator of the world below. This mind-set changes, however, when he sees " a crowd, / A host, of golden daffodils" (3-4). At first there is contrast between the speaker and the flowers. This is a result of their positions. The speaker is alone "high o'er vales and hills" while the daffodils outnumber him in a large group "beneath the trees" (2 and 5). As the "crowd" or "host" of daffodils is personified by their