I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud
I wandered lonely as a cloudThat 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 shineAnd twinkle on the milky way,They stretched in never-ending lineAlong the margin of a bay;Ten thousand saw I at a glance,Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.
The waves beside them danced, but theyOutdid the sparkling waves in glee:--A poet could not but be gayIn such a jocund company;I gazed--and gazed--but little thoughtWhat wealth the show to me had brought.
For oft, when on my couch I lieIn vacant or in pensive mood,They flash upon that inward eyeWhich is the bliss of solitude;And then my heart with pleasure fills,And dances with the daffodils.
Words in this poem
- twinkle v. i.
- To open and shut the eye rapidly; to blink; to wink. [OE. twinklen, AS. twinclian; akin to OE. twinken to blink, wink, G. zwinken, zwinkern, and perhaps to E. twitch.]
- glee n.
- Music; minstrelsy; entertainment.
- jocund
- Merry; cheerful; gay; airy; lively; sportive. [L. jocundus, jucundus, orig., helpful, fr. juvare to help. See Aid.]
- wealth n.
- Weal; welfare; prosperity; good. [OE. welthe, from wele; cf. D. weelde luxury. See Weal prosperity.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud is in the public domain. This text is taken from Poems Every Child Should Know The What-Every-Child-Should-Know-Library, Project Gutenberg ebook #16436; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Mary E. Burt, I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud, in Poems Every Child Should Know (1904), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #16436, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/poems-every-child/i-wandered-lonely-as-a-cloud.html, id L25212.
Form and metre
I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud is 24 lines in 4 stanzas of 6 lines each. Every stanza rhymes ABABCC. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 92%).
See other poems in iambic tetrameter.
Measured by Laurel's pipeline, not copied from a handbook: how stress and metre are counted, how rhyme is lettered, how a drifted rhyme is found. Where the dictionary cannot confirm a rhyme the letter is withheld, not guessed.
Rhyme words, stanza by stanza
The word that ends each line, lettered by the rhyme it makes; a dash is a line whose rhyme the dictionary could not confirm.
- 1 ABABCC cloudA · hillsB · crowdA · daffodilsB · treesC · breezeC
- 2 ABABCC shineA · wayB · lineA · bayB · glanceC · danceC
- 3 ABABCC theyA · gleeB · gayA · companyB · thoughtC · broughtC
- 4 ABABCC lieA · moodB · eyeA · solitudeB · fillsC · daffodilsC
Scansion, line by line
Each line with its syllable count and the stresses the words themselves fix: / stressed, ˘ unstressed, · a syllable the word leaves free and the metre decides. Read against iambic tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| I wandered lonely as a cloud | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| That floats on high o’er vales and hills, | 8 | ········ |
| When all at once I saw a crowd, | 8 | ········ |
| A host of golden daffodils: | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| Beside the lake, beneath the trees, | 8 | ˘/······ |
| Fluttering and dancing in the breeze. | 8 | /˘·/˘··· |
| Continuous as the stars that shine | 8 | ˘/˘····· |
| And twinkle on the milky way, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| They stretched in never-ending line | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| Along the margin of a bay; | 8 | ˘/·/˘··· |
| Ten thousand saw I at a glance, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Tossing their heads in sprightly dance. | 8 | /˘···/˘· |
| The waves beside them danced, but they | 8 | ··˘/···· |
| Outdid the sparkling waves in glee:-- | 8 | /··/˘··· |
| A poet could not but be gay | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| In such a jocund company; | 8 | ···/˘/˘˘ |
| I gazed--and gazed--but little thought | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| What wealth the show to me had brought. | 8 | ········ |
| For oft, when on my couch I lie | 8 | ········ |
| In vacant or in pensive mood, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| They flash upon that inward eye | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Which is the bliss of solitude; | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| And then my heart with pleasure fills, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| And dances with the daffodils. | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
The reader shows the same poem with its rhymes coloured and a stress row above each line, the notes beside their stanzas, and any word's definition on a tap; the analysis page takes the whole book apart. How every part of this site was made.