Daffodils by William Wordsworth,read by Jeremy Irons

While “I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud” matches Wordsworth’s description of poetic process in the preface to Lyrical Ballads, he actually composed the poem some years after the success of that anthology.

In 1802 he spent some time in the English Lake District. On April 15 he  and his sister Dorothy went for a walk near Ullswater lake. In her journal, Dorothy recounts the experience of seeing the daffodils:

When we were in the woods beyond Gowbarrow park we saw a few daffodils close to the water side, we fancied that the lake had floated the seeds ashore & that the little colony had so sprung up—But as we went along there were more & yet more & at last under the boughs of the trees, we saw that there was a long belt of them along the shore, about the breadth of a country turnpike road. I never saw daffodils so beautiful they grew among the mossy stones about & about them, some rested their heads upon these stones as on a pillow for weariness & the rest tossed & reeled & danced & seemed as if they verily laughed with the wind that blew upon them over the Lake, they looked so gay ever glancing ever changing. This wind blew directly over the Lake to them. There was here & there a little knot & a few stragglers a few yards higher up but they were so few as not to disturb the simplicity & unity & life of that one busy highway—We rested again & again. (85)

Quando eravamo nei boschi oltre il parco di Gowbarrow abbiamo visto alcuni narcisi vicino al lato dell'acqua, abbiamo immaginato che il lago avesse fatto galleggiare i semi a riva e che la piccola colonia fosse così sorta —ma mentre procedevamo ce n'erano di più e ancora di più e alla fine sotto i rami degli alberi, abbiamo visto che ce n'era una lunga fascia lungo la riva, circa la larghezza di una strada a pedaggio di campagna. 

Non ho mai visto narcisi così belli da crescere tra le pietre muschiose intorno e intorno a loro, alcuni appoggiavano la testa su queste pietre come su un cuscino per la stanchezza e gli altri si lanciavano, barcollavano, ballavano e sembravano davvero ridere con il vento che soffiava su di loro sul lago, sembravano così allegri che guardavano sempre e cambiavano.

Questo vento soffiava direttamente sul lago verso di loro. C'era qua e là un piccolo nodo e qualche ritardatario qualche metro più in alto, ma erano così pochi da non disturbare la semplicità, l'unità e la vita di quella trafficata autostrada—. Ci riposammo ancora e ancora. (85)

Group Performance Activity: "Bring the Daffodils to Life"

Objective

To interpret and perform the poem "Daffodils" in a theatrical and expressive manner that captures its imagery, emotions, and rhythm.

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.