Romanticism PDF

Romanticism and Neoclassicism Romanticism and neoclassicism are the two major literary movements in English literature. What was the reason behind the emergence of these movements and what is the difference between them? We will address these questions in detail through the following article. We all...

Romanticism and Neoclassicism Romanticism and neoclassicism are the two major literary movements in English literature. What was the reason behind the emergence of these movements and what is the difference between them? We will address these questions in detail through the following article. We all know that literature is a vast subject because it consists various ages, the popular and unpopular genres like poetry, drama and fiction of those periods, well-known and unknown writers and their works. All this needs to be looked at when studying literature. But, for our convenience, we will be concentrating on the genre of poetry and the major writers who contributed to neoclassicism and romanticism. Neoclassicism (1660-1785) What oft was thought, but never so well expressed ~ Alexander Pope Neoclassicism emerged immediately after the restoration in 1660, covering a time span of about 140 years. "Neo" means new. The writers of this age were determined to bring something new, at the same time acquiring or carrying forward some of the classical traits because, they were influenced by the writers of the classic age. They turned especially towards Latin writers for inspiration and guidance. The influence and inspiration is prominently found in the writings of John Dryden and Alexander Pope. They also tried to imitate the French writers. Charles II, when he returned to England after his exile in France, brought new admiration for French literature. The French and Classical models were fused together to form a new type called the heroic play. This type was well represented in Dryden's Tyrannic Love. Let us now try to grasp something from the above quotation by Alexander Pope. The quote is quite clear in expressing the presence of powerful thoughts in the neoclassic writers, but lacks proper execution. The words were lacking in their expression because their dependence on the classics had made these writers conservative. The Elizabethans were also inspired by the classics but, unlike the neoclassicals, they used the classical concepts liberally and joyously, molding the works according to their will. The school of Pope abandoned freedom altogether and came up with a set of rules based on the style of the classics. Romanticism (1790-1830) Poetry is the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings recollected in tranquility ~ William Wordsworth Let me elaborate on the above famous quote by William Wordsworth so that it will be easier for you to distinguish between romanticism and neoclassicism. According to the romantic writers, poetry was created out of feelings and emotions and that too from a spontaneous flow of those feelings. His poem Daffodils is the best example to explain his views. One day he wandered lonely through a forest and saw a vast flower bed of daffodils. He watched them and felt joyous and happy and moved on. He came back home and relaxed on his couch. While he was relaxing with his eyes closed, the sight of the golden daffodils appeared in front of his eyes; the feelings and happy emotions of the daffodils started pouring into his mind in tranquility which flowed on to paper immediately. In the romantic era, emotions were regarded as higher than thought and reason. Wordsworth believed and reflected in his writings, the rustic life of the common man. He has expressed this thought in his Lyrical Ballads which was written in collaboration with S.T. Coleridge's four poems. S.T. Coleridge also made crucial contribution to the romantic era. The Rime of the Ancient Mariner is the most noteworthy of the four poems contained in Lyrical Ballads. Other writers like Byron, Shelley and Keats also had a major share in blossoming the age. Romanticism Vs. Neoclassicism Romanticism Neoclassicism Romantic writers gave prominence to Neoclassic writers gave importance to thought emotions and self experience. and reason. Poetry reflected personal feelings of the In neoclassicism, poetry was the artful poet as it is spontaneous and not the man manipulation of real life happenings into a poetic in action in the composition. composition portraying a fictional character. They gave importance to poetic 'I', They gave importance to poetic 'eye' where the meaning the reader sees the poet in the reader sees the other person through the poet's protagonist. eye. Nature to a great extent, became a Human beings, as an integral part of the social persistent subject of poetry. organization, were the primary subject of poetry. Less importance was given to diction and More importance was given to diction, focusing more to the language of common man. on vocabulary and grammar. William Wordsworth (1770-1850), British poet, credited with ushering in the English Romantic Movement with the publication of Lyrical Ballads(1798) in collaboration with Samuel Taylor Coleridge. William Wordsworth was born on April 17, 1770 in Cockermouth, Cumberland, in the Lake District. His father was John Wordsworth, Sir James Lowther's attorney. The magnificent landscape deeply affected Wordsworth's imagination and gave him a love of nature. He lost his mother when he was eight and five years later his father. The domestic problems separated Wordsworth from his beloved and neurotic sister Dorothy, who was a very important person in his life. With the help of his two uncles, Wordsworth entered a local school and continued his studies at Cambridge University. Wordsworth made his debut as a writer in 1787, when he published a sonnet in The European Magazine. In that same year he entered St. John's College, Cambridge, from where he took his B.A. in 1791. During a summer vacation in 1790 Wordsworth went on a walking tour through revolutionary France and also traveled in Switzerland. On his second journey in France, Wordsworth had an affair with a French girl, Annette Vallon, a daughter of a barber-surgeon, by whom he had a illegitimate daughter Anne Caroline. The affair was basis of the poem "Vaudracour and Julia", but otherwise Wordsworth did his best to hide the affair from posterity. In 1795 he met Coleridge. Wordsworth's financial situation became better in 1795 when he received a legacy and was able to settle at Racedown, Dorset, with his sister Dorothy. Encouraged by Coleridge and stimulated by the close contact with nature, Wordsworth composed his first masterwork, Lyrical Ballads, which opened with Coleridge's "Ancient Mariner." About 1798 he started to write a large and philosophical autobiographical poem, completed in 1805, and published posthumously in 1850 under the title The Prelude. Wordsworth spent the winter of 1798-99 with his sister and Coleridge in Germany, where he wrote several poems, including the enigmatic 'Lucy' poems. After return he moved Dove Cottage, Grasmere, and in 1802 married Mary Hutchinson. They cared for Wordsworth's sister Dorothy for the last 20 years of her life. Wordsworth's second verse collection, Poems, In Two Volumes, appeared in 1807. Wordsworth's central works were produced between 1797 and 1808. His poems written during middle and late years have not gained similar critical approval. Wordsworth's Grasmere period ended in 1813. He was appointed official distributor of stamps for Westmoreland. He moved to Rydal Mount, Ambleside, where he spent the rest of his life. In later life Wordsworth abandoned his radical ideas and became a patriotic, conservative public man. In 1843 he succeeded Robert Southey (1774-1843) as England's poet laureate. Wordsworth died on April 23, 1850. The Preface to the Lyrical Ballads The Norton Anthology provides an excellent commentary on Wordsworth's "Preface to Lyrical Ballads," on pages 140-41. You will also find good information in the Introduction to the Romantic Period under" Poetic Theory and Poetic Practice" (pages 5-10). In this course, we focus on the reasons why Wordsworth's "Preface" has been considered a "revolutionary manifesto," a "turning point in English criticism," and a "central document in modern culture" (Norton 140-41). The Central Ideas in Wordsworth's Poetic Theory The subject matter of poetry: "incidents and situations from common life" (142) The language in which poetry is written: "language really used by men" (143) The kind of general truth that poetry discovers for us: "the manner in which we associate ideas in a state of excitement" (143) The nature of the poet as compared to other people: "nothing differing in kind from other men, but only in degree" (150); "more lively sensibility"; "more enthusiasm and tenderness"; greater knowledge of human nature"; "more comprehensive soul" (147) The training required to be a poet: "habits of meditation"(143) particularly, it seems. a development of the associative powers of the mind (144) The role of poetry: "the poet binds together by passion and knowledge the vast empire of human society" as opposed to the scientist who is after a particular truth in isolation; poetry, however, will eventually incorporate scientific knowledge when it has become familiar enough to us to be part of the life of sensation (150) What poetry is: "spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings"(143); but also "emotion recollected in tranquility" leading to the creation of a new emotion in the mind (151) The creative nature of the poetic act: the ability to be affected by "absent things as if they were present" and to express "thought sand feelings" that arise "without immediate external excitement"(147) "A Central Document in Modern Culture" We can then identify certain general characteristics in Wordsworth's theory that, when they come together, make his "Preface" a revolutionary declaration on behalf of "modern" culture. The tendencies in his theory are: Democratic: ordinary life and ordinary language are significant enough for poetic treatment; the poet is not an elevated being but an ordinary person who lives more intensely and who cultivates his imagination and expressive powers Psychological: the focus is on the associative powers of the mind, working through the imagination and what we would call the unconscious; memory is of particular interest as a (re)creative faculty Subjective: the origin of poetry is located in the poet's mind or feelings, rather than in the outer world Secular: poetry rather than religion, is given the mission of bringing human beings together into a community, and of revealing the hidden unity or oneness in the universe Lucy Gray The wretched Parents all that night Went shouting far and wide; Oft I had heard of Lucy Gray, But there was neither sound nor sight And when I cross'd the Wild, To serve them for a guide. I chanc'd to see at break of day The solitary Child. At day-break on a hill they stood That overlook'd the Moor; No Mate, no comrade Lucy knew; And thence they saw the Bridge of Wood She dwelt on a wild Moor, A furlong from their door. The sweetest Thing that ever grew Beside a human door! And now they homeward turn'd, and cry'd "In Heaven we all shall meet!" You yet may spy the Fawn at play, When in the snow the Mother spied The Hare upon the Green; The print of Lucy's feet. But the sweet face of Lucy Gray Will never more be seen. Then downward from the steep hill's edge They track'd the footmarks small; "To-night will be a stormy night, And through the broken hawthorn-hedge, You to the Town must go, And by the long stone-wall; And take a lantern, Child, to light Your Mother thro' the snow." And then an open field they cross'd, The marks were still the same; "That, Father! will I gladly do; They track'd them on, nor ever lost, 'Tis scarcely afternoon-- And to the Bridge they came. The Minster-clock has just struck two, And yonder is the Moon." They follow'd from the snowy bank The footmarks, one by one, At this the Father rais'd his hook Into the middle of the plank, And snapp'd a faggot-band; And further there were none. He plied his work, and Lucy took The lantern in her hand. Yet some maintain that to this day She is a living Child, Not blither is the mountain roe, That you may see sweet Lucy Gray With many a wanton stroke Upon the lonesome Wild. Her feet disperse, the powd'ry snow That rises up like smoke. O'er rough and smooth she trips along, And never looks behind; The storm came on before its time, And sings a solitary song She wander'd up and down, That whistles in the wind. And many a hill did Lucy climb But never reach'd the Town. “Lucy Gray” shares a similar theme as “We Are Seven” which was in the first publication of Lyrical Ballads. The two poems share the idea that even though people are no longer physically in the world, they are with us spiritually. In “We Are Seven” the little girl the speaker talks to seemingly cannot completely understand death saying in the last line, “…Nay, we are seven” (69). However, another way to look at the concepts is that maybe children understand spirituality more than adults do because they have not been corrupted by the world yet. We see the idea of innocence in "Lucy Gray" when she is out in the storm plowing through happier than any mountain deer. It is also important to note the solidarity of Lucy Gray. In early lines of the poem we are told that she does not have any friends, but she is the happiest, sweetest girl. In a way she is not connected to the human community. She only knows the company of her parents. It is almost a fitting end to her life that she goes out alone. She was able to find joy in nature without the influence of society. On a deeper level, the bridge where she vanished has a symbolic meaning. Since her footprints did not go all the way across the bridge this means that point is not an end. She does not look back as she has made the transition to “the other side.” She is now fittingly part of nature, “…and sings a solitary song/That whistles through the wind” (63-64). There is not a stress on her death; rather, one can take that she has been unified with nature as she was a great lover of it. He might not have known that people 200 years later would still be reading the poem, but he probably hoped she would forever live on in our readings and debates. Whether you like the poem or not you will never forget the poem or the story associated with it. Things like this happen every day, and we often forget the name of the children who have passed before their time, but all shall remember the name Lucy Gray. "My Heart Leaps Up" describes the pure delight the speaker feels upon seeing a rainbow. This joy prompts the speaker to "MY HEART LEAPS UP WHEN reflect on the passing of time and the significance of I BEHOLD" childhood. It is in childhood, the poem argues, that people My heart leaps up when I first feel a sense of powerful awe and wonder at the natural world around them. In turn, adults should strive to maintain behold the pure, enthusiastic reactions to the natural world they felt A rainbow in the sky: as children. Such unbridled appreciation for nature, the poem So was it when my life argues, makes life worth living. began; So is it now I am a man; The poem begins in the present tense: the speaker says his So be it when I shall grow heart "leaps up" when he sees a rainbow. This reaction to the sight of the rainbow is not a new or unknown feeling, old, however. Rather, the speaker has had the same reaction to Or let me die! seeing a rainbow for as long as he can remember. The joy the The Child is father of the speaker feels is the same joy he felt as a child, which the Man; poem marks by switching to the past tense in line 3 ("So was I could wish my days to be it when my life began"). The speaker takes comfort in realizing that he hasn't lost his childlike sense of pure, Bound each to each by unfiltered wonder upon noticing the beauty of nature. natural piety. The rainbow thus makes the speaker feel connected not only 1802. to nature, but also to his past self. This sense of continuity from childhood to adulthood, in turn, gives the speaker hope for a happy old age. Just as he has felt joy upon seeing a rainbow from childhood through adulthood, he claims that he will continue to feel that same joy in his old age, signified by the switch to the future tense in line 5 ("So be it when I shall grow old"). Furthermore, the speaker claims that it is through the experience of childhood that he learned to feel the joy he does at the natural world. Turning the idea of parenting on its head, the speaker suggests that childhood teaches people how to appreciate the simple wonders of the natural world. While adults tend to have more knowledge, experience, skills than children, children are closer to nature and do not regulate their reactions to it. If thunder makes a child feel afraid, that child might cry or hide. Similarly, the rare, colorful sight of a rainbow might give a child an unexpected thrill. A child's innocent, almost religious enthusiasm for nature is what the speaker means by "natural piety" in the final line. The speaker does not want to become jaded or immune to the powers of nature over time, but instead hopes to maintain the child-like enthusiasm for the natural world. The speaker hopes to keep his childlike appreciation of nature so much that, in line 6, he claims he'd rather die without it, suggesting that to lose enthusiasm for the natural world would be to lose what makes life worth living in the first place. The wisdom of childhood is not one that can be learned through years of experience, the poem argues, but is instead the innocence to notice the natural world and let it move you. The Solitary Reaper Behold her, single in the field, Yon solitary Highland Lass! In the poem, the speaker tries—and Reaping and singing by herself; fails—to describe the song he heard a Stop here, or gently pass! young woman singing as she cuts grain Alone she cuts and binds the grain, in a Scottish field. The speaker does not And sings a melancholy strain; understand the song, and he cannot tell O listen! for the Vale profound Is overflowing with the sound. what it was about. Nor can he find the language to describe its beauty. He finds No Nightingale did ever chaunt that the traditional poetic metaphors for More welcome notes to weary bands a beautiful song fail him. The poem thus Of travellers in some shady haunt, calls, implicitly, for a new kind of poetry: Among Arabian sands: one that is better able to approximate A voice so thrilling ne'er was heard and describe the pure, unpretentious In spring-time from the Cuckoo-bird, beauty of the reaper’s song. Breaking the silence of the seas Among the farthest Hebrides. Will no one tell me what she sings?-- Perhaps the plaintive numbers flow For old, unhappy, far-off things, And battles long ago: Or is it some more humble lay, Familiar matter of to-day? Some natural sorrow, loss, or pain, That has been, and may be again? Whate'er the theme, the Maiden sang As if her song could have no ending; I saw her singing at her work, And o'er the sickle bending;-- I listened, motionless and still; And, as I mounted up the hill, The music in my heart I bore, Long after it was heard no more.  Wordsworth was one of the leading figures of English Romanticism, an artistic and intellectual movement that swept across Europe at the end of the 18th century. In contrast to the Enlightenment, with its emphasis on scientific reason, Romanticism drew on feelings, often provoked by the solitary contemplation of nature. Wordsworth, for instance, described poetry as the “spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings” “recollected in tranquility”; in other words, poetry is a calm recollection of intense emotion. “The Solitary Reaper” is a clear example of Wordsworthian Romanticism, since its speaker reflects on a powerful experience of nature from a tranquil distance. Though he does not know what she’s singing about, the speaker seems to ascribe to the reaper a sort of virtuousness and purity on the basis of her simpler existence and relative proximity to nature. The poem seems to subtly suggest the nobility and honesty of physical labor like that which this girl performs. In doing so, however, the poem reduces the reaper’s participation in human history and politics. The poem presents two sets of actions. On the one hand, the reaper “cuts and binds the grain / and sings a melancholy strain.” On the other hand, the speaker and the reader “Behold” and “listen.” There is thus an implicit distinction between the reaper and the speaker in terms of their relationships with nature: while the reaper works directly on it, the speaker observes it and her from a distance. She is a participant while he is a spectator. The reaper is implied to be closer to a “natural” existence than the speaker. In the terms of Romantic thought, she is also therefore implied to be closer to the source of poetry itself, since poetry comes from nature. In “On Naïve and Sentimental Poetry,” the Romantic poet and critic Friedrich Schiller argues that the poets of his time have lost their intimacy with nature. They observe it from a distance and long to recover their proximity to it, whereas early poets participated in it directly. The reaper seems almost a model of this direct participation. As the speaker admires the reaper’s proximity to nature, however, he reduces her participation in human history and politics. He treats the reaper as something to observe, to draw inspiration from, and something ultimately separate from his world and its concerns. The poem was written at a time of political and economic upheaval, just after the French Revolution and in the midst of the Industrial Revolution and the rise of Napoleon. But in the poem, the reaper works with pre-industrial tools in a landscape unmarred by factories, mines, or railroads. Indeed, in stanza 3, as the speaker tries to imagine what the reaper might be singing about, he allows that she might be interested in politics—but only the politics of the past: battles and catastrophes that happened long ago. The reaper is thus sequestered from the present, from its political and economic struggles. In contemplating her song, the speaker transforms her into something like nature itself: beyond or outside of human history, apt for contemplation. “The Tables Turned" was written by the English Romantic poet William Wordsworth and published in his 1798 collection Lyrical Ballads. The poem compares knowledge gathered from books with the profound wisdom of the natural world, and argues that nature is a far better (not to mention more enjoyable!) teacher. It also suggests that knowledge is incomplete without practical experience, which people simply can't get through studying. The poem thus fits right in with the aims and themes of the Romantic movement, which responded to the industrialization of society and celebrated the simplicity and beauty of nature. One characteristic form for Romantic art, especially poetry, is a celebration of imaginative liberation by the abandonment of reason, social restrictions, any limitations of tradition--a release of the energetic, joyful, creative individual into a world of infinite potential. The following well known poem by William Wordsworth captures this spirit. The Tables Turned Let Nature be your teacher.. Up! up! my Friend, and quit your books; She has a world of ready wealth, Or surely you'll grow double: Our minds and hearts to bless— Up! up! my Friend, and clear your looks; Spontaneous wisdom breathed by health, Why all this toil and trouble? Truth breathed by cheerfulness. The sun above the mountain's head, A freshening lustre mellow One impulse from a vernal wood Through all the long green fields has May teach you more of man, spread, Of moral evil and of good, His first sweet evening yellow. Than all the sages can. Books! 'tis a dull and endless strife: Come, hear the woodland linnet, Sweet is the lore which Nature brings; How sweet his music! on my life, Our meddling intellect There's more of wisdom in it. Mis-shapes the beauteous forms of things:— And hark! how blithe the throstle sings! We murder to dissect. He, too, is no mean preacher: Come forth into the light of things, Enough of Science and of Art; Close up those barren leaves; Come forth, and bring with you a heart That watches and receives.  "The Tables Turned" contrasts the “dull” realm of human knowledge with the joyful wisdom of nature— a world of sunshine and birdsong that illuminates truth in a way no book ever could. A person can study all they want, the speaker argues, but nature is a better teacher than all the "sages." Human beings, with their “meddling intellect,” spend too much time attempting to dissect how things work rather than appreciating the beauty and wonder before them. To really gain wisdom, the speaker argues, people must humbly open their hearts to the lessons that nature has to offer. The speaker urges a friend to put down the books and come outside to watch the sunset, insisting that doing so is much more valuable—and enjoyable—than intellectual study. The speaker scoffs at the idea of spending one’s life pouring over books, presenting such work as both difficult and unrewarding—as “a dull and endless strife.” Not only is this kind of study challenging and boring, it seems, but there’s also no end in sight to it! No matter how much and how hard people study, their understanding will always be incomplete. Books, the speaker implies, are no substitute for being out there in the natural world—for experience. Nature, meanwhile, fills people with delight even as it offers them wisdom. Things like the “first sweet evening yellow” of the sun going down over a mountain and the “blithe” sound of a songbird are sources of pleasure and joy that the world of academic study totally lacks. Nature isn't just lovely, either: the speaker insists that immersing oneself in nature is actually the best form of education around. In fact, the pleasure of nature is part of what makes it such a good teacher; the "cheerfulness" it elicits breeds "truth," the speaker says, adding that there's more “wisdom” in the music of a linnet (another songbird) than there is in any number of books. Sitting around and reading simply can't compete with the "wisdom breathed by health" (that is, the wisdom from being out and about in the fresh air), and a tree in spring can teach one more about morality than even the wisest people in history. Nature is rich with "wealth"—knowledge, wisdom, understanding—and is ready and willing to "bless" human hearts and minds, if only people are ready and willing to learn. That means rejecting the desire to "dissect" everything, to scientifically or academically process “the beauteous forms of things” and, in doing so, destroy them. Instead, the speaker says, people should move through the world with a sense of humility and openness, looking on and taking in whatever the natural world presents them. The speaker of “We Are Seven” debates a young girl who believes that her two deceased siblings should be counted among her family members, staging a battle between and emotion and logic that is typical of Romantic concerns. The speaker and the child never reach an agreement, leaving behind additional questions about the nature of death and the power of familial bonds. —A simple child, Her eyes were fair, and very fair; That lightly draws its breath, —Her beauty made me glad. And feels its life in every limb, What should it know of death? "Sisters and brothers, little maid, How many may you be?" I met a little cottage girl: "How many? Seven in all," she said, She was eight years old, she said; And wondering looked at me. Her hair was thick with many a curl That clustered round her head. "And where are they? I pray you tell." She answered, "Seven are we; She had a rustic, woodland air, And two of us at Conway dwell, And she was wildly clad: And two are gone to sea. "Two of us in the churchyard lie, "And often after sunset, sir, My sister and my brother; When it is light and fair, And, in the churchyard cottage, I I take my little porringer, Dwell near them with my mother." And eat my supper there. "You say that two at Conway dwell, "The first that died was sister Jane; And two are gone to sea, In bed she moaning lay, Yet ye are seven! I pray you tell, Till God released her of her pain; Sweet maid, how this may be." And then she went away. Then did the little maid reply, "So in the churchyard she was laid; "Seven boys and girls are we; And, when the grass was dry, Two of us in the churchyard lie, Together round her grave we played, Beneath the churchyard tree." My brother John and I. "You run about, my little maid, "And when the ground was white with Your limbs they are alive; snow If two are in the churchyard laid, And I could run and slide, Then ye are only five." My brother John was forced to go, And he lies by her side." "Their graves are green, they may be seen," "How many are you, then," said I, The little maid replied, "If they two are in heaven?" "Twelve steps or more from my Quick was the little maid's reply, mother's door, "O master! we are seven." And they are side by side. "But they are dead; those two are "My stockings there I often knit, dead! My kerchief there I hem; Their spirits are in heaven!" And there upon the ground I sit, 'Twas throwing words away; for still And sing a song to them. The little maid would have her will, And said, "Nay, we are seven!" The speaker of “We Are Seven” recalls a conversation with a young girl who insists that there are seven children in her family, despite the fact that two of them have passed away. The speaker insists that, logically, there are now only five children in her family, and portrays the little girl as unable to fully comprehend death. In doing so, the speaker suggests that childhood innocence gives rise to a blissful yet limited understanding of the world, while adults are left to grapple with life’s harsh realities. The speaker relies on hard knowledge and evidence to argue that the girl is one of five siblings. He repeatedly cites numbers and encourages the girl to count her siblings multiple times. The speaker also contrasts the girl's physical liveliness with her siblings’ stillness in death, saying, “You run about, my little Maid, / Your limbs they are alive.” Here, the speaker takes a scientific approach, again relying on his adult knowledge and worldly experience—things the innocent little girl does not possess—in order to make his point. The speaker also takes care to exaggerate the girl's youth in order to undermine her own take on her family. He introduces her as “a simple Child” and refers to her as “it.” He is quick to point out that “she [is] eight years old” and suggests that her youthfulness discredits her perspective on death, posing the question, “What should it know of death?” The speaker goes on to call her “little Maid” throughout the poem (while he is “Sir” and “Master”), again calling attention to their age disparity as the root of her perceived ignorance; that is, the speaker sees her youthful innocence as making her unable to grasp the reality of the world. She may be happy, but, in the speaker's mind, she is also simply wrong about the way the world works. The speaker thus repeatedly brushes off her logic, implying that it isn’t credible even as the girl spends a great deal of time explaining all the ways that she continues to interact with her deceased siblings’ memories. She also points out that her siblings are buried nearby, just “twelve steps or more from [her] mother’s door,” implying how close she feels to them even in death. Yet the speaker simply restates his earlier points, disregarding her reasoning. The child is equally persistent, but the speaker suggests that she is simply blind to the truth. As the poem draws to a close, he mentions that trying to explain death to the child is like “throwing words away.” To put it differently, the speaker decides that she, as an innocent child, is simply incapable of following his logic. While both characters are certain about their conclusions, the speaker makes clear that his perspective is based in facts and figures, while hers results from a lack of experience. Still, they never reach an agreement and their conversation apparently haunts the speaker long after its conclusion. As such, the reader is left to determine for themselves whether the acceptance of difficult truths in adulthood is necessarily more favorable than an innocent, blissful worldview. ‘I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud’ is one of the best-loved poems of the fountainhead of romanticism William Wordsworth. This poem features how the spontaneous emotions of the poet’s heart sparked by the energetic dance of daffodils help him pen down this sweet little piece. On 15 April 1802, Wordsworth and his sister Dorothy came across a host of daffodils around Glencoyne Bay in the Lake District This poem is a depiction of beautiful nature. Daffodils is one of the most famous poems of Romantic Movement written by William Wordsworth. Being a lover of nature, Poet reveals feelings of a scene of huge number of daffodils by a lake that made him surprised. The imagery in simple wording and couple of similes made it one of the best poems of romantic era. His way of personifying flowers is most attractive way of writing poetry. The plot of the poem is very simple and unified to a single theme. The memory of this beautiful scene comforts him whenever he is lonely. The age in which he lived was the period of French Revolution. At start, he was in support of it but later on he became against it and became depressed by it. So he tries his best to keep himself happy. So in this context, poet says that the memories of beautiful flowers keep his mood fresh when he is lonely. This indicates the intense feelings of a romantic poet. The hyperbolic language made it more attractive when poet says: “Ten Thousand I saw at a Glance” The word ten thousand is used in hyperbolic sense. The word he used for himself “cloud” is also much appealing to the readers. The word flutter, tossing, and dancing are also examples of beautiful personification. So the entire poem is beautiful depiction of nature with full of figurative language. 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.