I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud

“Lines Written in Early Spring” by William Wordsworth (1798)

This poem, published in the Lyrical Ballads, introduces a speaker contemplating the natural world. Like “I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud,” it is written in iambic tetrameter, and describes a landscape that brings joy to the speaker. However, this poem demonstrates greater socio-political awareness, as it references “[w]hat man has made of man” (Line 8)—that is, how poorly human beings treat one another.

“Lines Composed A Few Miles Above Tintern Abbey on Revisiting the Banks of the Wye During a Tour” by William Wordsworth (1798)

This poem was also published in the Lyrical Ballads and, like “I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud,” describes a natural landscape that is later called to mind “in lonely rooms, and ‘mid the din / Of towns and cities” (Lines 25-26).

A long, reflective work written in blank verse, “Tintern Abbey” sees the speaker revisiting the banks of the river Wye, remembering how the landscape affected him in childhood. The poem takes the form of a monologue and appears to be addressed to the speaker’s sister at one point—from this, we can infer that Wordsworth was thinking of his sister Dorothy, and the many walks they took in nature.

Descriptive yet philosophical, this heartfelt poem makes the crucial point that “Nature never did betray / The heart that loved her” (Lines 122-23).

“Daffodils” by Ted Hughes (1984)

Modern poet Ted Hughes (1930-1998) published his poem “Daffodils” in the London Review of Books in 1984, but subsequently rewrote the poem and published it under the same name in his collection Birthday Letters in 1998.

In the early version of the poem, the speaker buys a plot of ground and is surprised when daffodils begin to grow: “A cauldron of daffodils, boiling gently” (Line 3). Like Wordsworth, Hughes personifies the flowers, referring to their “girlish dance-frocks” (Line 25). However, unlike Wordsworth, he squanders their riches, picking and selling them.

The poem takes a sinister turn as the speaker cannot get the daffodils out of his mind after he has sold them: “The souls of all those daffodils, as I killed them, / Had taken refuge inside me” (Lines 43-44). His “free girls” (Line 58) with their “bloomers of scrambled egg-yolk” (Line 59) become his victims.

In the later version of “Daffodils,” the poet repurposes the poem to reflect on the life and death of his late wife, Sylvia Plath, who died by suicide in 1963. “We thought they were a windfall. / Never guessed they were a last blessing” (Line 30), the speaker says of the daffodils.

When we compare these poems to “I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud,” what is clear is that daffodils symbolized very different things for each poet. For Wordsworth, they brought uncomplicated delight; for Hughes, they brought thoughts of death and nostalgia.