Wednesday, March 28, 2007

My favorite poem of this season


There is no sweeter poem for the spring season that Wordworth's 'Daffodils'! This photo is of Dora's field near Rydal Mount in the Lake District. After Wordsworth's daughter died in 1847, he, along with his sister Dorothy and his wife, planted up a field he had purchased to build a house. He planted daffodils there as a memorial to his daughter. I hope this poem brings you some sunshine today as you read it...



I WANDER'D 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 stretch'd 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.

~~ William Wordsworth ~~

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

That poem is one of my favourites, too! ♥

Nan said...

I did not know about the death of Wordsworth's daughter and the memorial daffodils. So very, very sad. It brings a whole different feeling to the poem.