I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud by William Wordsworth - (1770 - 1850) - Daffodils

See also my newer version of this recital:
   • Daffodils by William Wordsworth - I W...  

Artistic & truthful poem by a great English Romantic poet. Yellow is the colour of the sanguine temperament related to the lighter air element. The feeling of dance and lightness of spirit is very natural to people under the influence of such a temperament. Thus the yellow colour of the daffodils easily inspires such feelings in the observer. A field of dancing black flowers would have a very different effect on the soul. The poet points to a great truth when he says '...but little thought what wealth the show to me had brought'. Experiences are remembered as a wellspring in later life.

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 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.

William Wordsworth (1770-1850)