William Wordsworth

William Wordsworth Felicidad Christensen, Karol Kowalczyk, Chellsa Ferdinand, Richard Leung, and Jeremy De La Cruz

Background • April 7 1770 – 23 April 1850 • William Wordsworth, son of John and Ann Cookson Wordsworth, was born on April 7, 1770 in Cockermouth, Cumberland. The Wordsworth children, Richard, William, Dorothy, John and Christopher, remained close throughout their lives, and the support Dorothy offered William during his long career has attained legendary status. • William attended the grammar school near Cockermouth Church and Ann Birkett's school at Penrith, the home of his maternal grandparents.. • In December 1791, he met and fell in love with Annette Vallon in France. • While still in France, Wordsworth began work on the first extended poetic efforts of his maturity, Descriptive Sketches, which was published in 1793, after the appearance of a poem written at Cambridge, An Evening Walk (1793). • He left France in early December 1792, when he spent all his money, before Annette Vallon gave birth to his child Caroline. • Wordsworth’s last major work in prose represents a return to his earliest interest in the land and scenery of the English Lake District. • In 1843, Wordsworth was named poet laureate of England, though by this time he had for the most part quit composing verse.

Societal NORMS • Wordsworth lived during the Victorian era, which had very strict social norms and a renewed blossoming of flowery language with rigid structure. Wordsworth’s poetry generally conformed to this ideal A Victorian era party

I Wandered Lonely as a cloud 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.

Analysis Wordsworth describes himself as a lonely cloud. While floating above hills and valleys, he encounters a crowd of daffodils near a lake. “A 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” Notice how in the poem, Wordsworth describes himself as a cloud and the daffodils as a crowd “tossing their heads in a slightly springy dance.” This is reverse personification. Simple, yet understated. This creates a bondage, a unity of sorts between man and nature. In such proximity to nature one cannot help but feel joy, describes the speaker. What he has stumbled upon is an unknown treasure. The daffodils and the flowers and the lake bring him a joy that he has been long without. Whenever he becomes lonely and listless, the speaker remembers of the daffodils by the lake.

Composed upon Westminster Bridge, September 3, 1802 Earth has not anything to show more fair: Dull would he be of soul who could pass by A sight so touching in its majesty: This City now doth, like a garment, wear The beauty of the morning; silent, bare, Ships, towers, domes, theatres, and temples lie Open unto the fields, and to the sky; All bright and glittering in the smokeless air. Never did sun more beautifully steep In his first splendour, valley, rock, or hill; Ne'er saw I, never felt, a calm so deep! The river glideth at his own sweet will: Dear God! the very houses seem asleep; And all that mighty heart is lying still!

Analysis In the poem Composed Upon Westminster Bridge, September 3rd, 1802 (which is in fact a sonnet) Wordsworth reflects on his love for nature, but also describes with beauty the city of London. He establishes a coexistence of the beauty of the city and nature by saying : “This City now doth, like a garment, wear The beauty of the morning; silent, bare, “ • The words used, such as silent and bare add an air of tranquility to the poem that also alludes to harmony with nature

~Original Works~ • I see the night more than the morningDay comes to early for meGive me the moon and the starsRather than sunlight and daybreakBut is it not trueThat in the night, there are tooFlowers that bloomIn the moonlight

~Original Works~ • WriterIntelligentLyricalLover of natureInterestingAmazingMaker of Poetry

~original works~ Lingering stillnessand the undulating wavesof the cool waters

~original Works~ The words unspokenConfused—Unsure of myself. Who was she? Unknown

THE END! • Will. I. Am Wordsworth

Works Cited~ • Bloom, Harold. William Wordsworth. Broomall, PA: Chelsea House, 1999. Print • Everett, Glenn. “William Wordsworth: Biography.” William Wordsworth: Biography. Victorian Web, July 2000. Web. • "I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud." The Poetry Foundation. The Poetry Foundation, n.d. Web. • "William Wordsworth." The Poetry Foundation. The Poetry Foundation, n.d. Web.

William Wordsworth