Нарциссы, Вильям Вордсворт

Бродил я одиноко, точно облако,
Дрейфующее над холмами в вышине,
Но/Как вдруг златых нарциссов сонмище легко
От будней отвлекло, едва явившись мне.
Росли цветы за озером и под древами
Клонились с ветром и качали головами.

Построились бессчётно, словно звёзды – в ряд,
Горящие в средине Млечного пути,
Украсит ими девственный наряд
На время брег залива – вот и рай почти:
Я десять тысяч беглым взглядом насчитал –
Кивающий в такт танца бодрый яркий шквал.

А позади вздымались волны в диком танце,
Хотя в цветах пылало больше ликования,
Чему поэт не может ведь не восторгаться,
Когда он окружён такой живой компанией!
Глядел я долго, но тогда не уловил,
Какой бесценный дар от них я получил.

С тех самых пор, когда я на софе лежу
Задумчив, отрешён и в настроенье грузном
Перед глазами образ стойкий их держу,
Который в памяти всплывёт с блаженством грустным –
Тогда ворвётся в пляшущее сердце радость,
И ринется душа с нарциссами в удалость.

2014

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Daffodils (the original poem by William Wordsworth)

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.

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.

The waves beside them danced, but they
Outdid the sparkling leaves in glee;
A poet could not be but gay,
In such a jocund company!
I gazed—and gazed—but little thought
What wealth the show to me had brought:

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.

1804

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According to a poll taken in 1995 by BBC Radio 4 Bookworm program, ‘Daffodils’ ranked fifth in the nation’s favorite poems.

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. William Wordsworth is a well-known romantic poet who believed in conveying simple and creative expressions through his poems. He had quoted, “Poetry is the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings: it takes its origin from emotion recollected in tranquility”. Thus, Daffodils is one of the most popular poems of the Romantic Age, unfolding the poet’s excitement, love and praise for a field blossoming with daffodils.

William Wordsworth (1770-1850) was one of the major poets of his time honored as England’s Poet Laureate. He was a nature poet who helped to coin the term ‘Romanticism’ in English Literature along with I. A. Richards in 1798, by the publication of ‘Lyrical Ballads’.

The title, ‘Daffodils’ is a simple word that reminds us of the arrival of spring, when the field is full of daffodils. Daffodils are yellow flowers, having an amazing shape and beautiful fragrance. A bunch of daffodils symbolize the joy and happiness of life.

The theme of the poem ‘Daffodils’ is a collection of human emotions inspired by nature that we may have not noticed enough due to our busy lives. The daffodils imply beginning or rebirth for human beings, blessed with the grace of nature. The arrival of daffodils in the month of March is welcomed and it’s an enjoyable time to appreciate them!

Summary
William Wordsworth wrote Daffodils on a stormy day in spring, while walking along with his sister Dorothy near Ullswater Lake, in England. He imagined that the daffodils were dancing and invoking him to join and enjoy the breezy nature of the fields. Dorothy Wordsworth, the younger sister of William Wordsworth, found the poem so interesting that she took ‘Daffodils’ as the subject for her journal. The poem is written as an appreciation of daffodils, and contains six lines in four stanzas.

In the first stanza, the writer finds himself as a lonely cloud floating over the valley. The author describes himself ‘lonely’ because his brother John was dead, leaving him alone and sad. Then he encountered the yellow daffodils beside the lake. The flowers were swaying here and there due to the heavy breeze, as if they were dancing happily.

Second stanza is about how amazing the daffodils looked in the spring season. The author found those flowers like stars which shined and twinkled in the night sky. They were nodding their heads while dancing. Then Wordsworth expressed that these beautiful flowers stood in a never-ending line. He felt an illusion that he is watching all ten thousand of flowers altogether in a glance.

Third stanza is the continuation of how along with the flowers, the water in the lake too moved, as if they were competing with each other in the dance. But the glee flowers won and the sparkling lake lost. Finding their playfulness, the author couldn’t stop himself from joining their company. The author kept staring at both of them, wondering how his sad mood changed into a happy one. The daffodils and lake’s dance bought him a wealth that he couldn’t deny. The mesmerizing flowers gained a place in his heart he couldn’t understand but felt.

The last or the fourth stanza is narration of what pleasure the author had gained after watching the daffodils dancing that day. Whenever the author, Wordsworth felt sad or alone, the picture of dancing daffodils came to his mind and it was like he regained life’s treasure. How valuable the solitude is! At the end, author’s heart was content in joining the daffodils’ dance.

Rhyming Scheme
The ‘Daffodils’ has a rhyming scheme throughout the poem. The rhyming scheme of the poem is ‘ABABCC‘.

The first four lines of each stanza has a rhyming scheme of ‘ABAB’. While the ending two lines, are the rhyming couplet. Each stanza makes use of ‘Enjambment’ which converts the poem into a continuous flow of expressions without a pause.

First Stanza: AA – cloud, crowd; BB – hills, daffodils; CC – trees and breeze

Second stanza: AA – shine, line; BB – way, bay; CC – glance, dance

Third stanza: AA – they, gay; BB – glee, company; CC – thought, brought

Fourth stanza: AA – lie, eye; BB – mood, solitude; CC – fills, daffodils

Meter
Meter is one of the most considerable elements when it comes to rhythm of a verse, Daffodils is in a form of sixain (a stanza of six lines), each line following an iambic tetrameter. The word iamb means unstressed-stressed syllables and tetra means four. Out of four syllables in a line, when an unstressed syllable is followed by a stressed syllable, is called iambic tetrameter. Let’s see in the following example; you can either made stressed syllables in bold or can mark them (x) – unstressed and (/) – stressed.

E.g. That floats on high o’er vale and hills

1) That floats | on high | o’er vales | and hills.

x / | x / | x / | x / |
2) That floats | on high | o’er vales | and hills.

Link: @ Penlighten

penlighten.com/analysis-of-daffodils-by-william-wordsworth