Page 161 - DENG203_ELECTIVE_ENGLISH_IV

Elective English—IV

Notes Introduction

Wordsworth was one of the most influential of England’s Romantic poets. William Wordsworth
was born on 7 April 1770 at Cockermouth in Cumbria. His father was a lawyer. Both Wordsworth’s
parents died before he was 15, and he and his four siblings were left in the care of different
relatives. As a young man, Wordsworth developed a love of nature, a theme reflected in many
of his poems.
While studying at Cambridge University, Wordsworth spent a summer holiday on a walking
tour in Switzerland and France. He became an enthusiast for the ideals of the French Revolution.
He began to write poetry while he was at school, but none was published until 1793.
William Wordsworth’s monumental poetic legacy rests on a large number of important poems,
varying in length and weight from the short, simple lyrics of the 1790s to the vast expanses
of The Prelude, thirteen books long in its 1808 edition.
The poem “Daffodils” is also known by the title “I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud”, a lyrical poem
written by William Wordsworth in 1804. It was published in 1815 in ‘Collected Poems’ with four
stanzas. It portrays a moment on April 15, 1802, when Wordsworth and his sister Dorothy were
walking near a lake at Grasmere, Cumbria County, England, and came upon a shore lined with
daffodils. The speaker says that, wandering like a cloud floating above hills and valleys, he
encountered a field of daffodils beside a lake. The dancing, fluttering flowers stretched endlessly
along the shore, and though the waves of the lake danced beside the flowers, daffodils outdid the
water in glee. The speaker says that a poet could not help but be happy in such a joyful company
of flowers. He says that he stared and stared, but did not realize what wealth the scene would
bring him. For now, whenever he feels “vacant” or “pensive,” the memory flashes upon “that
inward eye / that is the bliss of solitude,” and his heart fills with pleasure, “and dances with the
daffodils.”
In this unit we will study more about William Wordsworth and the poem ‘Daffodils’.

9.1 About William Wordsworth

Figure 9.1: William Wordsworth

Source: http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-_Vrmino1LcI/UTdeEK-zHxI/AAAAAAAABR8/ImozlCe3g9A/
s320/wordworth.png

156 LOVELY PROFESSIONAL UNIVERSITY