English Literature

William Wordsworths poem entitled I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud demonstrates numerous uses of figurative language, making it one of the most well-loved English poems in history. The poem tells a simple picture of a series of daffodils inspired by the author and his sisters encounter with the beautiful daffodils. The speaker of the poem is the author himself as he reminisces the time he had spent with his sister in a grassland filled with daffodils. He incorporates the theme of his appreciation for nature in the poem as he uses literary elements to illustrate the beauty of the flowers. However, the poets use of figurative language such as simile, metaphor, and personification produces the essential purpose of the poem which is to appreciate nature through poetry.
  
Wordsworth uses simile in numerous stanzas to describe how the persona feels towards the sight of the daffodils. The title itself, I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud, uses simile to describe how the speaker compares himself to a cloud freely wandering atop the valleys and hills.  I wandered lonely as a cloud  That floats on high oer vales and hills. This way of describing the feeling of the speaker reveals that he could be seeing the sight through a birdseye view as clouds are located above hilltops and valleys. He also makes use of another simile in the first two lines of th second stanza which is a parallel of the first stanza.  Continuous as the stars that shine  and twinkle on the Milky Way. In these two lines, the persona compares the daffodils dancing to be as continuous as the stars. This is another reference to nature. It is apparent that most of the objects to which Wordsworth compares the daffodils are elementsof nature as well.  

The persona also speaks in metaphors as he compares the sets of daffodils to a crowd which most likely pertains to people.  When all at once I saw a crowd,  A host of golden daffodils. The lines depict the quantity of the flowers to that of a crowd of people.Obviously, the speaker feels an overwhelming happiness upon the sight of the flowers that he cannot help but claim that,  A poet could not but be gay,  in such a jocund company . Wordsworth also considers the view of the daffodils as a show which  brought wealth to the narrator.  I gazed - and gazed - but little thought  what wealth the show to me had brought. This line further emphasizes the impact of the flowers to the narrator.  

It is also notable that the poet is fond of using personification in describing the movements and ambience of the daffodils. He first establishes the image of the daffodils in lines 5 and 6  Beside the lake, beneath the trees,  Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.  The poet could have easily depicted the flowers to be swaying with the wind, but rather, he prefers to personify their movements in order to show the intense emotion that the poet has experienced towards seeing the flowers. It is also remarkable that the persona is consistent in describing the flowers movement to dancing to insinuate joyful activity.  Ten thousand saw I at a glance,  tossing their heads in sprightly dance. He even mentions how the waves danced as well but still, the daffodils are much more remarkable.   

The figurative language used in the poem I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud is evident as William Wordsworth incorporates simile, metaphors, and personification to convey the happiness that he felt when he caught a sight of the flowers together with his sister. Well-known for being a romantic, Wordsworth is able to effectively deliver his message of appreciation towards nature, which is accompanied with the emotions behind the event due to the extensive use of figurative language.