The Connection Between Man and Nature
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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 “fluttering and dancing” they are connected to the world of the speaker because of the light breeze which blows both speaker and flowers in a brisk, calm manner (6).
In addition to the connection through the breeze, stanza two brings about another connection through the stars. The speaker uses a simile to compare the daffodils to the “continuous” shine of the stars (7). The daffodils of the earthly world have now been connected to the metaphorical world of the speaker by giving them a place above him like the stars in the Milky Way. By placing the flowers in such a manner he brings them closer to his celestial path. Another connection is brought to the surface through the description of the daffodils in a “never-ending line” (9). This provides them with no limits just like he has while floating like a cloud. The speaker is obviously impressed by the daffodils and their movements because he reiterates the description of the daffodils from the first stanza as he tries to do the impossible of catching ten thousand flowers “at a glance” (11). The speaker then uses a personification to show how the flowers, as a part of nature and part of a group, work together through their full spirit and vitality.
Furthermore, in the third stanza the speaker leaves the path of the lonely cloud to join the lighthearted or “jocund company” of the daffodils (16). Through this action the speaker becomes open and direct with the expression of his emotions. The speaker now feels as if he belongs to something and states his purpose as a poet who wrote this literary piece. This is the turning point of the poem and speaker’s state of mind. In the beginning the speaker hid or clouded his identity