Life and work of william wordsworth and the theme in the poem “the daffodils”

Group: 06 Teacher: Phạm Tố Loan Members: Nguyễn Thị Linh Hoàng Huyền Ly Nguyễn Thị Mây Phạm Thị Nga Hà Diệu Ngọc Topic: Life and work of William Wordsworth and the theme in the poem “The Daffodils” Outline I Introduction about William Wordsworth I.1 The life I.2 The work II Wordsworth on nature and man II.1 Wordsword on nature II.2 Wordsword on Man III The theme of poem “The Daffodils” III.1 The writing situation III.2 The theme of the poem IV Conclusion I Introduction about William Wordsworth I.1 The life of William Wordsworth 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 1770 in Cockermouth, Cumberland, in the Lake District, United Kingdom 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 an 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 I.2.The work of William Wordsworth  In 1791 he graduated from Cambridge and traveled abroad While in France he fell in        love with Annette Vallon, who bore him a daughter, Caroline, in 1792 The spirit of the French Revolution had strongly influenced Wordsworth, and he returned (1792) to England imbued with the principles of Rousseau and republicanism In 1793 were published An Evening Walk and Descriptive Sketches, written in the stylized idiom and vocabulary of the 18th cent In Dorsetshire Wordsworth became the intimate friend of Samuel Taylor Coleridge and, probably under his influence, a student of David Hartley's empiricist philosophy Together the two poets wrote Lyrical Ballads (1798), in which they sought to use the language of ordinary people in poetry In 1799 he and his sister moved to the Lake District of England, where they lived the remainder of their lives In 1802 Wordsworth married Mary Hutchinson, an old school friend; the union was evidently a happy one, and the couple had four children The Prelude, his long autobiographical poem, was completed in 1805, though it was not published until after his death Thereafter, Wordsworth's creative powers diminished Nonetheless, some notable poems were produced after this date, including The Excursion (1814), "Laodamia" (1815), "White Doe of Rylstone" (1815), Memorials of a Tour of the Continent, 1820 (1822), and "Yarrow Revisited" (1835) In 1842 Wordsworth was given a civil list pension, and the following year, having long since put aside radical sympathies, he was named poet laureate II Wordsworth on nature and man II.1 Wordsworth on nature Nature has a dominant role in Wordsworth’s poetry So, he is called the poet of nature His poetry reveals his deeply spiritual and emotional response to nature He portrays nature’s beauty in his imagery Nature has a tremendous impact on Wordsworth’s imagination He delights in depicting the visual beauty of various locations There are three points in his creed of Nature may be noted Firstly, he conceived of Nature as a living Personality He believed that there is a divine spirit pervading all the objects of Nature This belief in a divine spirit pervading all the objects of Nature may be termed as mystical Pantheism and is fully expressed in Tintern Abbey and in several passages in Book II of The Prelude Secondly, Wordsworth believed that the company of Nature gives joy to the human heart and he looked upon Nature as exercising a healing influence on sorrow-stricken hearts Finally, Wordsworth emphasized the moral influence of Nature He spiritualised Nature and regarded her as a great moral teacher, as the best mother, guardian and nurse of man, and as an elevating influence He believed that between man and Nature there is mutual consciousness, spiritual communion or ‘mystic intercourse’ He initiates his readers into the secret of the soul’s communion with Nature According to him, human beings who grow up in the lap of Nature are perfect in every respect He finds out as well as establishes in his poems a cordial, passionate, impressive, emotional, intellectual, spiritual and inseparable relationship between nature and human life According to him, all created things are parts of a unified whole II.2 Wordsworth on man Wordsworth is perhaps not as good at describing the natural landscape as a number of other poets As a purely descriptive poet he is highly capable, but his real genius lies in showing what happens when the innate power of Nature meets the power of perception of human mind, it is as if the individual’s perception of Nature, its awe, power and capacity to teach, is what matters, rather than nature itself, it is the interaction of Nature and human nature that enlivens and stimulates him Instead of placing man and nature in opposition, Wordsworth views them as complementary elements of a whole, recognizing man as a part of nature Hence, Wordsworth looks at the world and sees not an alien force against which he must struggle, but rather a comforting entity of which he is a part Wordsworth’s poetry also celebrates the healing influence of nature on the human spirit Writing poetry became therapy for Wordsworth William Wordsworth has chosen the theme of nature to convey the secret longing about a beautiful and glorious world In that place, man and nature as a harmony with the infinite joy that a life of freedom and peace Besides the natural poetry Wordsworth is also the world people who love freedom to burning Thus, the journey to look for spiritual freedom, Wordsworth turned to the theme of Nature and Man as his special style In the beautiful nature pictures, people appear with love of freedom, love of nature, love of things They also love life, love freedom as his breathing and are portrayed as symbols of freedom desire of simple people III The theme of poem “The Daffodils” III.1 The writing situation of “The Daffodils” “The Daffodils” known as “I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud” is a famous poem written in 1804 by William Wordsworth “The Daffodils” is one of the most popular poems of the Romantic Age, unfolding the poet's excitement, love and praise for a field blossoming with daffodils It was inspired by an April 15, 1802 event, in which Wordsworth and his sister, Dorothy, came across a “long belt” of daffodils on a walk near Ullswater Lake in England This poem was first published in 1807, and a revised version was released in 1815 Just reading the first verses, we can feel the time and space William wrote “The Daffodils” The inspiration for this poem may have been drawn from a walk he took with his sister Dorothy around Lake Ullswater “I wandered lonely as a cloud That floats on high o’er vales and hills … … Beside the lake, beneath the trees” His sister Dorothy later wrote in her journal as a reference to this walk: “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 seed ashore and that the little colony had so sprung up But as we went along there were more and more and 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 and about them, some rested their heads upon these stones as on a pillow for weariness and the rest tossed and reeled and danced and seemed as if they verily laughed with the wind that blew upon them over the lake, they looked so gay ever dancing ever changing This wind blew directly over the lake to them There was here and there a little knot and a few stragglers a few yards higher up but they were so few as not to disturb the simplicity and unity and life of that one busy highway We rested again and again The Bays were stormy, and we heard the waves at different distances and in the middle of the water like the sea.” (Extracted from Dorothy Wordsworth, The Grasmere Journal, Thursday, 15 April 1802) Just the love of nature, especially the love of the beauty of daffodils, and the above notes helped William Wordsworth write the poem “The daffodils”, which was considered as the most successful work of William Wordsworth and made strong impressions on many generations of readers III.2 The theme of the Daffodils The Daffodils is one of Wordsworth's famous poems It is simple, sparse and pastoral Wordsworth liked these themes Much of his poetry resonates with themes of nature.The theme of the poem "Daffodils"is its loneliness and beauty ofthe nature.William Wordsworth especially wrote poems based onromanticism and loneliness of human beings The feeling of the poet will be demonstrated through the poem, through the image of daffodils, the poet shows his feeling.Thanks to these glorious daffodils, the emotion of the poet changes from the loneliness to the happiness.An in-depth analysis of the poem will show the themes that William Wordsworth want to send his readers In the first stanza, the feeling of loneliness of the poet is expressed opposite to the daffodils Wordsworth describes himself as a ‘cloud’ that floats over the hills This presents an idea of seclusion As human form Wordsworth prefers seclusion but the ‘crowd’ of daffodils bewilders his senses.The poet becomes a part of nature He floats above and feels a kinship with the gentle elements He describes his experience of the sight ‘ a host of daffodils’ during the lonely walk, the daffodils delights him with their beauty and their dance.The daffodils appeared so beautifully that he was compelled to gaze at these flowers playing with pleasure in the wind How glorious and plentiful these daffodils were! Maybe this was also the first time he had come across such an immense field of daffodils along the shore 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 In the second stanza, both the poet and the cloud are floating on high, when he saw a field full of golden daffodils Both he and the cloud are aspects of the world, which is subjected to the laws of nature but they can still retain their freedom in spite of this Other images in the poem reinforce this – the 'lake' 'trees' 'cloud' and 'waves' are all natural images and the daffodils give the clear focus of the poem which predominately makes nature the most important feature throughout the host of golden daffodils The poem was inspired by the sight of a field full of golden daffodils waving in the wind These daffodils are located in the countryside near a lake and trees and are also seen to move continually in a dance Wordsworth expresses feelings for nature through these symbolic objects.He personifies the daffodils as dancers, dancing gaily as part of the beauty of nature to emphasize on their liveliness Continuous as the stars that shine And twinkle on the Milky Way, They stretched in a never-ending line Along the margin of a bay: Ten thousand saw I at a glance, Tossing their heads in sprightly dance To William Wordsworth, the daffodils appeared to be as continuous as the twinkling stars on the Milky Way galaxy They were arrayed in a seemingly un-ending line along the bank of the bay To the poet, it seemed as if ten thousand daffodils were bobbing in the gentle breeze and he imagined them to be engaged in a lively dance.Like the Milky Way galaxy, the flowers are roughly concentrated in a line that seems to stretch as far as the eye can see "never-ending" The flowers line the shore "margin" of a bay of thelake, which must be a relatively large lake We imagine the same effect with the flowers It’s not as if there are no flowers outside the shore of the lake, but most are concentrated on the shore.The speaker takes in "ten thousand" dancing flowers at once That’s a lot of daffodils The poet is not actually counting, but just guessing The flowers "toss their hands" while dancing to the wind By "heads" we think he means the part of the flower with the petals, the weight of which causes the rest of the flower to bob In the third stanza, the poet describes the effect that the flowers have on the poet, it is the feeling of glee and friendliness between them 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 In this stanza, the poet starts to talk about the waves which are in the lake The waves, like the daffodils, are dancing They are happy, therefore, they are moving as if they were dancing in the lake besides the daffodils The joy of the waves exceeds the joy of the daffodils The waves and the daffodils are humanized as they feel joy But, the waves are happier than the daffodils This scene affects the poet and makes him happy So, in the company of happy daffodils and waves, the poet should be happy like them In this contemplation, everything in nature affects him, and makes him happy.When describing the effect that the flowers have on the poet, there are many words associated with happiness as: "glee", "gay", "jocund company", happiness caused by this experience, which everybody can have In line "I gazed—and gazed" is an act in which the poetic transformation takes place spontaneously, without full consciousness on the poet’s part of what he is doing and "he little thought" what this show meant to him.William describes the daffodils always as a single monolithic body, without individual distinction: "ten thousand," "a crowd," "a host," "a laughing company." There is no sense of individuation here, only a collective "they." In William's poem, the collective "they" of the daffodils is represented primarily in relation to the isolated "I" of the narrator who describes them In the final stanza, "the inward eye" reminds him what he has experienced and in the tranquility he can recollect these thoughts in the solitude of his house, moreover he realizes what this show meant and his heart is filled with pleasure The poet is not able at a first sight to interpret the act, it is only afterwards, that thoughts are understood and described, nonetheless he canunderstand this experience, thanks to "the inward eye", which represents feelings of imagination, it is a metaphor, a special way to see things; the poet is able to interpret the secret language of nature and technical poetry made up of emotions 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 The memory of the daffodils was etched in the author's mind and soul to be cherished forever, when he was feeling lonely, dull or depressed, he thought of the flowers and cheered up Then his loneliness and sorrow seemed to vanish; and he desire to dance with the daffodils “And then my heart with pleasure fills / And dances with the daffodils.” The full impact of the daffodils' beauty did not strike him at the moment of seeing them, when he started blankly at them but much later when he sat alone, sad and lonely and remember them “For off, when on my couch I lie In vacant or in pensive mood / They flash upon that inward eye” We can point out that his state was changing in a slight way He was not alone any longer, yet he probably thought that he would be stronger if he made a contrast between a lonely traveler and happy daffodils This simple but effective way seems to take hold on us, and then each time we read this poem, we can see the harmonious beauty of the poet and the long belt of the golden daffodils and enjoy the brightness The poet presents vocabulary associated to loneliness: “lonely, solitude ” opposition between nature and society, vocabulary associated with light: “ sprightly, stars, golden, shine, twinkle, flash, sparkling ‘’ Movement is linked to: “ wandered, floats, fluttering ‘’; moreover we have images of earth: “vales and hills’’; images of air: “ clouds, breeze’’; images of water: “ lake, waves’’ Moreover, there is a choice of tense in the poem in the last stanza, the poet returns to the reality, the present records the memories, it is a process of creative imagination, an outstanding experience All of these also reveal the feeling of the poem The lonely feeling of the poet has been changed by his senses of the liveliness, the glee, and the friendliness with the daffodils to the happy feeling when thinking of daffodils In conclusion, "Daffodils' essentially talks about nature, and its beauty Wordsworth being a nature poet has used beautiful symbolism, such as 'continous as the stars that shine' and 'a host, of golden daffodils' The readers can almost see the scene themselves, which the poet had experienced during a walk The poet is in a happy mood, and seeing the beautiful scene uplifts his spirits He remembers them for a long tiem afterwards in his 'inward eye'  ... experience All of these also reveal the feeling of the poem The lonely feeling of the poet has been changed by his senses of the liveliness, the glee, and the friendliness with the daffodils to the happy... one of Wordsworth' s famous poems It is simple, sparse and pastoral Wordsworth liked these themes Much of his poetry resonates with themes of nature .The theme of the poem "Daffodils"is its loneliness... writing situation of The Daffodils” The Daffodils” known as “I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud” is a famous poem written in 1804 by William Wordsworth The Daffodils” is one of the most popular poems