Daffodils

Spring is in the air, daffodils are bursting open. “Daffodils” is also one of the most famous poems in the English language. It was written by William Wordsworth, an important English Romantic poet. The official title of the poem is: “I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud”.

Read the following words and phrases and their definitions.

• daffodil - a yellow flower that blooms in the spring and that has a center that is shaped like a long tube (also see picture below)
• to wander - to walk around in a relaxed way
• margin - the edge of something
• at a glance - with a quick look
• to outdo - to do better than someone or something else
• glee - joy
• jocund - happy, cheerful
• pensive - thoughtful and serious
• bliss - complete happiness

First read the assignment. Next watch the video. Take notes to help you do the assignment.



You can read the poem here.

1. Can the tone of the poem be best described as: angry, comic, joyful, or sad?


2. What is the narrator’s mood in the first lines and how does it change when he/she sees the daffodils?


3. What is the connection between the daffodils and the twinkling stars?


4. In the last lines (1:20 in the video), how does the memory of the daffodils change the narrator’s mood?


5. Does the poem suggest that loneliness is a good thing or a bad thing?
   Explain your answer.

Extra words assignment

1. The cloud “floats on high o'er vales and hills”.
   Explain what the underlined expression means.


2. Wordsworth uses all sorts of “happy” words.
   Write down all the happy words you recognize.