Day 1 - IT Lesson 1: Figurative Language

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 leaves in glee;
A poet could not be but 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.

The author has used figurative language to write his poem. Here is how i feel he used them:

• Hyperbole: "A poet could not be but gay, In such a jocund company!" We can tell that the poet is elated as he exaggerated on his happy mood by adding an exclamation mark and he used words like gay and jocund instead of happy which expresses his feelings.
• Personification: The poet used many personifications:

1. "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." The poet described the daffodils as fluttering and dancing in the breeze.
2. "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 poet describes the star by writing that many of them glanced at him while tossing their heads, changing the stars to a human.
3. "The waves beside them danced, but they Out-did the sparkling leaves in glee"The poet described the waves as dancing.
   
4. He, a cloud, personifies himself gazing and ''my heart with pleasure fills, And dances with the daffodils.''

• Symbolism: "Ten thousand saw I at a glance," The poet used a large number(ten thousand) of stars as a contrast of his loneliness.

Why do i like this poem?
The poem describes a lonely cloud wandering alone. It shows a large contrast between the cloud and other things around it. Unlike other poems, this one has a lot of personification used. Therefore, i like this poem.