Summary of Poem: 'Daffodils'

Hey everybody! 
Here's another post infront of you.. Well, it's a stanza-to-stanza summary of the well-known poet William Wordsworth's poem 

            ''DAFFODILS''

About the poet: William Wordsworth (1770 to 1850) was a world-renowned poet who was very influenced by the majestic portrait and scene of merry daffodils which made him an ardent admirer of nature.

Daffodils-

1.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. 

EXPLANATION--> In the above stanza, the poet compares himself to a cloud roaming aimlessly over valleys and hills when he sees numerous golden daffodils beside the lake and under the trees. The daffodils are dancing merrily in the gentle wind. 

***POETIC DEVICES USED***
👉Simile- 'lonely as a cloud' (The poet compares himself to a floating cloud using the word 'as'.)

👉Metaphors- 'crowd' and 'host' (The millions of daffodils are compared to crowd and host inorder to determine the numbers of daffodils.)

👉Personification- 'Fluttering' and 'dancing' (The multitude of  daffodils are observed as a person moving and dancing merrily in the breeze.)

2. 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. 

EXPLANATION--> In the above stanza, the poet compares the multitude of flowers along the bay to the stretchless stars twinking in the Milky Way Galaxy. The poet is so mesmeriz(s)ed by the beauty of splendid daffodils that he  becomes exaggerated and feels that he sees about ten thousand flowers at a single look.

***POETIC DEVICES USED***
👉Simile- 'Continuous as the stars' (The never-ending daffodils are compared to infinite stars that glow in the Milky Way Galaxy.)

👉Hyperbole- 'Ten thousand' (The poet uses the phrase 'ten thousand' as extravagant exaggeration inorder to express his joy.)

3. 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:

EXPLANATION--> In the above stanza, the poet finds that the waves of the lake are also dancing happily but the daffodils have beaten the ripples by dancing more cheerfully than the waves that the poet is left in a jocund and joyous company. The poet gazes again and again about the treasure accummulated by getting charmed by the glorious show of the daffodils.

***POETIC DEVICES USED***
👉Personification- 'The waves beside them danced; but they Out-did the sparkling waves in glee' (The ripples and daffodils are personified.)

👉Repetition- 'I gazed—and gazed' (The poet repeats the phrase again and again because of the charm he feels when he considers daffodils as a great wealth.

4. 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. 

EXPLANATION--> In the above stanza, whenever the poet is in a relaxing, lonely mood and empty-minded, the superb scenery of over-whelming daffodils flashes upon his inward eye i.e. his mind which in turn, brings so much joy in his loneliness and melancholy that his heart fills with pleasure and dances with daffodils and hence, considers them as blessing in solitude. 

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                                                                        - Preksha Mahajan