Signs of spring are finally showing up here in my corner of Connecticut, and spring break begins TODAY! In honor of the season, I’m sharing “I Wandered Lonely As a Cloud” by William Wordsworth. This is one of the first “adult” poems I remember reading in high school that I really liked. Who wouldn’t want to be dancing with 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;
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
Out-did the sparkling waves in glee:
A poet could not but be 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.
![By Myrabella (Own work) [CC-BY-SA-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons](https://readingtothecore.files.wordpress.com/2014/04/398px-parc_de_bagatelle_paris_printemps.jpg)
Reading to the Core 
This is, indeed, a lovely poem. Catherine. Thinking about some of the original poems you’ve posted here in recent weeks, I can see how Wordsworth has been an influence.
LikeLike
Yes, indeed, I want to dance with the daffodils, Love this poem, and that photo is gorgeous. Thanks, Catherine.
LikeLike
It’s hard not to see daffodils and think of this poem. At our poem gathering, someone read a poem by Keats about daffodils — which I guess I should try to find and reread. But this is one of those I’ve carried since a child, and am grateful for the teachers who asked us to memorize, and keep such, if sometimes broken, forever.
LikeLike
Sigh…Thank you for this! Wordsworth is good for the soul.
LikeLike
This poem takes me back to high school, when my love affair with poetry began and this poem was one of my first suitors. Thanks!
LikeLike
What an awesome way to welcome Spring with Wordsworth. I agree with Mary Lee. He is indeed good for the soul.
LikeLike