20 pages 40 minutes read

William Wordsworth

I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud

Fiction | Poem | Adult | Published in 1807

A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.

Symbols & Motifs

Nature and the Imagination

“I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud” appears to be a straightforward description of the natural world, but in the fourth stanza the speaker tells us that his memory has conjured up the scene before us. Nature has stirred his imagination, prompting him to set down his feelings.

There are clues to this in the first three stanzas of the poem, since the speaker does not describe nature minutely; rather, he focuses on a handful of details that provoke passion in him. The first two lines tell us that he does not walk through the landscape observing every little detail; instead, he is distracted, possibly lost in thought. It is when nature corresponds to an impulse within him that he pays attention to it.

The dancing daffodils and waves evoke a feeling of joy and liberation, and it is these feelings he remembers later, when he is in an uninspiring setting.

The poem seems to suggest that scientific objectivity would tell us little about nature, but the power of the imagination evokes its magnificence. The poem is as much about this congruence between nature and the mind as it is about nature itself.

Related Titles

By William Wordsworth

Study Guide
logo

A Complaint

William Wordsworth

A Complaint

William Wordsworth

Plot Summary
logo

A Slumber Did My Spirit Seal

William Wordsworth

A Slumber Did My Spirit Seal

William Wordsworth

Study Guide
logo

Composed upon Westminster Bridge, September 3, 1802

William Wordsworth

Composed upon Westminster Bridge, September 3, 1802

William Wordsworth

Study Guide
logo

Daffodils

William Wordsworth

Daffodils

William Wordsworth

Study Guide
logo

Tintern Abbey

William Wordsworth

Lines Composed a Few Miles above Tintern Abbey ...

William Wordsworth

Study Guide
logo

London, 1802

William Wordsworth

London, 1802

William Wordsworth

Plot Summary
logo

Lyrical Ballads

William Wordsworth

Lyrical Ballads

William Wordsworth

Study Guide
logo

My Heart Leaps Up

William Wordsworth

My Heart Leaps Up

William Wordsworth

Study Guide
logo

Ode: Intimations of Immortality from Recollections of Early Childhood

William Wordsworth

Ode: Intimations of Immortality from Recollections of Early Childhood

William Wordsworth

Study Guide
logo

Preface to Lyrical Ballads

William Wordsworth

Preface to Lyrical Ballads

William Wordsworth

Study Guide
logo

She Dwelt Among The Untrodden Ways

William Wordsworth

She Dwelt Among The Untrodden Ways

William Wordsworth

Study Guide
logo

She Was a Phantom of Delight

William Wordsworth

She Was a Phantom of Delight

William Wordsworth

Plot Summary
logo

The Prelude

William Wordsworth

The Prelude

William Wordsworth

Study Guide
logo

The Solitary Reaper

William Wordsworth

The Solitary Reaper

William Wordsworth

Study Guide
logo

The World Is Too Much with Us

William Wordsworth

The World Is Too Much with Us

William Wordsworth

Study Guide
logo

To the Skylark

William Wordsworth

To the Skylark

William Wordsworth

Plot Summary
logo

We Are Seven

William Wordsworth

We Are Seven

William Wordsworth