These were featured from a course I once took at our Church, years and years ago! The course was "Cultural Refinement" and the text was Out of the Best Books, An Anthology of Literature. Not surprisingly, the theme for Section 1 was "A Glad Heart".
I copied the selection from an online source, so as to save you my typing skills! That site even has an audio version!
I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud
by William Wordsworth
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.
Poem 2 from A Glad Heart (Section 1); Out of the Best Books
Jenny kissed me when we met,
Jumping from the chair she sat in;
Time, you thief, who love to get
Sweets into your list, put that in:
Say I'm weary, say I'm sad,
Say that health and wealth have missed me,
Say I'm growing old, but add,
Jenny kissed me.
When glumness settles over you, "lonely as a cloud", I hope you will open your eyes and your mind and push through to find natural wonders, sweet memories, and a delight in the spirit of poets!
I hope you will do the little follow-up, explanation, and commentary at the https://www.poetryfoundation.org. Or read the poetry and make your own remarks and interpretation.
Here are a couple of comments from "moi":
"I wandered lonely as a cloud"...have you seen one little cloud making its way across the sky, all by itself? It is somewhat alone, but also somewhat majestic in its journey. There is sometimes, it seems to me, that being alone can be a beautiful thing, a healing experience. We all need an occasional "floating along, alone", perhaps!
Floating on high, so to speak provides perspective...Move away a bit from trials, seek a different view or viewpoint: mountain drives, over vales/valleys and hills. Or, since I don't have mountains anywhere in my area, go to the beach when the weather is cold or rainy and not inhabited by crowds?
Have you ever thought of the word "crowd" in conjunction with flowers, sea oats, etc.? A host (a bunch) of daffodils! They were beside the lake, beneath the trees, fluttering, dancing in the breeze. Then Wordsworth compares them to the stars in the sky, which twinkle on the milky way. The daffodils stretched in never-ending line, Along the margin of the bay. His eyes took in the sight, the numerous hot, maybe ten thousand, or more! Maybe even like the stars twinkle, the daffodils nooded their heads in their own twinkling kind of way, in "sprightly" dance.
Do flowers (or stars for that matter) do a kind of dancing? On a backdrop of the sparkling waters of the lake, bay, or sea, they held their own! A poet could not but be happy, joyful, lighthearted and gay! Wordsworth envisioned this, either in a walk he took one day, or in his minds' eye, perhaps a former memory returned. The scene was that of a jocund company; a light hearted crowd! His eyes took it all in--but he hardly realized at the time what a wealth the show would become, "had brought to him"!
"For often", later on, when lying down upon his courch, thinking of little or nothing, In a vacant or thoughtful mood, that vision, that experience comes back and "flashes" upon that inward eye [of the mind] and with the bliss of solitude; his heart once more is moved and lifted and glad. As he remembers and rejoices in that lonely afternoon of taking a walk by the lake, his heart dances with the daffodils.
I am sure that you could put this better than me. Read the poem and make it yours by taking your own solitary departure into fields or hills or round the block and report back to pen and paper, your observations. Liken the scene to how it felt to take action, instead of reclining on the couch all the time! Relive your dance with the daffodils, palm trees, sea oats, or whatever!
"I wandered lonely as a cloud"...have you seen one little cloud making its way across the sky, all by itself? It is somewhat alone, but also somewhat majestic in its journey. There is sometimes, it seems to me, that being alone can be a beautiful thing, a healing experience. We all need an occasional "floating along, alone", perhaps!
Floating on high, so to speak provides perspective...Move away a bit from trials, seek a different view or viewpoint: mountain drives, over vales/valleys and hills. Or, since I don't have mountains anywhere in my area, go to the beach when the weather is cold or rainy and not inhabited by crowds?
Have you ever thought of the word "crowd" in conjunction with flowers, sea oats, etc.? A host (a bunch) of daffodils! They were beside the lake, beneath the trees, fluttering, dancing in the breeze. Then Wordsworth compares them to the stars in the sky, which twinkle on the milky way. The daffodils stretched in never-ending line, Along the margin of the bay. His eyes took in the sight, the numerous hot, maybe ten thousand, or more! Maybe even like the stars twinkle, the daffodils nooded their heads in their own twinkling kind of way, in "sprightly" dance.
Do flowers (or stars for that matter) do a kind of dancing? On a backdrop of the sparkling waters of the lake, bay, or sea, they held their own! A poet could not but be happy, joyful, lighthearted and gay! Wordsworth envisioned this, either in a walk he took one day, or in his minds' eye, perhaps a former memory returned. The scene was that of a jocund company; a light hearted crowd! His eyes took it all in--but he hardly realized at the time what a wealth the show would become, "had brought to him"!
"For often", later on, when lying down upon his courch, thinking of little or nothing, In a vacant or thoughtful mood, that vision, that experience comes back and "flashes" upon that inward eye [of the mind] and with the bliss of solitude; his heart once more is moved and lifted and glad. As he remembers and rejoices in that lonely afternoon of taking a walk by the lake, his heart dances with the daffodils.
I am sure that you could put this better than me. Read the poem and make it yours by taking your own solitary departure into fields or hills or round the block and report back to pen and paper, your observations. Liken the scene to how it felt to take action, instead of reclining on the couch all the time! Relive your dance with the daffodils, palm trees, sea oats, or whatever!
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