Midterm

The Romantic poets wrote about emotions, the beauty of nature, God, imagination, the human soul, the paradoxes of life and the many horrors that face society as a response to the Enlightenment and the Industrial Revolution.  William Wordsworth in his poem “I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud” is a poem that encompasses some of the Romantic ideals. William Wordsworth in his Preface to Lyrical Ballads gives a detailed explanation of his poems and the reasons for which he writes them. This helps the reader understand Wordsworth’s style and also the values that Romantic poets held as a whole.

Wordsworth poem “I Wandered Lonely as a Tree” on the surface writes about a person who could be Wordsworth or a stranger, who is taking a walk through a hilly meadow of daffodils, alone. The loneliness is a simile

“I WANDERED lonely as a cloud

That floats on high o'er vales and hills,”

the words give the reader a picture for the word loneliness and therefore a better understanding. Later he is on his couch and he is thinking of the events of the day and he remembers the crowd of daffodils,

                     “And then my heart with pleasure fills,

                      And dances with the daffodils.”

he also recalls the pleasure and joy that, that moment created for him.

This is the primary analysis which is very simple idea of what is on the surface. According to the Preface the poems that Wordsworth chooses to write the poem in a simple language without fluffing it up with complicated diction or various rhetorical devices.

“The principal object , then, proposed in these Poems was to choose incidents and situations from common life, and to relate or describe them, throughout, as far, as was possible in a selection of language really used by men,”

The reason that Wordsworth does this is so that the readers can better relate to his poems and fully understand the messages the poems are trying to convey to them. The reader would not be boggled down by extra baggage.

The secondary analysis is a deeper interpretation of the poem. This is below the surface and there could be many different approaches depending on the reader. The analysis reminds me of Sigmund Freud’s iceberg that there could be huge chunks of ice or knowledge. In Wordsworth’s poem “I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud” the deeper analysis from which the poem conveyed to me was that the person in the book is not along but rather surrounded by life. The very existence of nature small like these daffodils or large like mountains, all hold the common essence of life the same essence that is in human beings. The reason for saying this is because Wordsworth compares the man to the cloud and then he personifies the daffodils,

        “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;…

                     Ten thousand saw I at a glance,

                     Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.”

he gives the man character traits of nature and then nature character traits of humans. Therefore this leads me to believe that if that is possible then nature and humans are connected no through physical likeness but rather through a more metaphysical commonality. This idea is also explained in laymen terms in his preface “He considers man and nature as essentially adapted to each other.” Human and nature co-exist and of the same. 

                    Further addressing the secondary analysis is also the theme of pleasure through simple, uncomplicated things

                    “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.”

the last stanza of the poem holds all the meat for the second analysis. When the man is sitting alone and reflecting on the events that happen during the day he realized how much pleasure he received from being alone in nature. I think sayings like “enjoy the small things” were invented for situations described in the poem. The idea of small things or simple things makes sense because like Wordsworth explained in the Preface he wants to bring his language near to the real language of man. That is why complex algorithms helpful in a functional way and do not evoke feelings from humans. Complexity sometimes can become very systematic and mundane. With this thought Wordsworth explains to the reader of his poems that Poets are different from man of science

                    “The Man of science seeks truth as a remote and unknown benefactor; he cherishes and loves it in his solitude: the Poet, singing a song in which all human beings join with him, rejoices in the presence of truth as our visible friend and hourly companion.”

in that men of science enjoy knowledge all for themselves, not saying that they are selfish but rather they enjoy being alone. Poets on the other hand enjoy sharing knowledge with the masses, not because they wants to be credited but rather because the emotions they want to share are real. 

                    Moving onto the third analysis which I like to think of as the ocean the iceberg is floating on because it is vast. These analyses tend to follow a process of inductive reason going from something specific like a nice scenic picture of nature to some deep broad human truths. The human truth that Wordsworth wants us to take away is that emotions are made real by poetry.  Real in the sense that people can relate to it and that in a way hopefully their soul would be touched and moved. Real in the sense that it’s not the tangible real but more of a realness in understanding. An example that comes to my mind personally is always the question of love and how can you tell if you are in love. I have no real answer for that but through poetry and its ability to evoke emotions humans can slowly come to understand the concept of love and associate it those feelings with the word. Now bringing it back to Wordsworth poem and his preface he uses words like emotion and pleasure. I think he is trying to tell the reader that the human heart is one that seeks, and strives for happiness or pure heavy emotions. This line in the Preface has really resonated with me

                    “Poetry is the first and last of all knowledge---it is as immortal as the heart of man.”

this is an eloquent way of saying that through poetry humans kind find the truth, the truth that is forever in their hearts. Wordsworth uses the language very beautifully and he explains it without polluting the water or melting the iceberg. He does not smother his poetry nor does he dilute it. 

                    Like Wordsworth’s Poetry and Preface, humanity growths through simplicity.