‘‘I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud’’ may well be the most anthologized poem in the English language, and generations of school students have been presented with it as an accessible work by one of England’s greatest poets. ‘‘I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud’’ may indeed be a simple poem but it is not quite as…
Tag: William Wordsworth
I Wandered Lonely As A Cloud – Poetic Devices
Iambic Tetrameter The poem is written in what is called iambic tetrameter. An iamb is a poetic foot in which an unstressed syllable is followed by a stressed syllable. (A foot, in English poetic meter, consists of two or three syllables, either one strongly stressed syllable and one lightly stressed syllable, or one strong stress…
I Wandered Lonely As A Cloud – Themes
Nature Perhaps the key term in the poem is ‘‘lonely,’’ which describes the poet’s state of mind as he walks in nature. He does not say merely that he was alone. He refers to a specific lack of a sense of community, or connectedness. He is isolated, and in the poem he uses the image…
I Wandered Lonely As A Cloud – Summary – Meaning
Stanza 1 In ‘‘I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud’’ the speaker describes what he saw one spring day when he was walking in the English countryside. The first two lines state that he was alone as he walked, and he compares himself to a solitary cloud high in the sky. Then suddenly he comes upon…
Comparing Percy Bysshe Shelley’s main purpose in ‘Alastor’ with that of William Wordsworth’s ‘Resolution and Independence’
A quest for intimate truths about nature is at the center of Percy Bysshe Shelley’s poem Alastor, first published in 1816. This 720 line long poem has strong allusions to Roman mythology, starting with its title Alastor. The poem is about the adventure in search of truth of a poet, whose actions are inspired by…