Tonight’s poem is probably the most famous poem in English about flowers. A man is walking alone by a lake when he suddenly sees thousands of golden daffodils dancing in the wind. And years later, lying on his sofa, he still sees them in his mind.
Learn from Songs · Poetry · B1
Daffodils
Wordsworth’s much-loved poem about a field of golden flowers: similes (lonely as a cloud), the past simple and the present simple together (I saw… / For oft, when on my couch I lie…), -ing participles (fluttering and dancing), and poetic inversion, with Philo, Sophia, Marcos and Demetria.
SOPHIA
DEMETRIA
I love that. A memory you can keep for ever.
SOPHIA
Exactly. And here’s a secret: the poet didn’t see them alone. He was walking with his sister Dorothy, and she wrote about the daffodils in her diary first.
MARCOS
So she should get the credit!
Before you listen: the song
Ullswater, the Lake District, 15 April 1802
William Wordsworth (1770–1850) was one of the great Romantic poets, who believed that nature could heal and teach the human heart. He lived most of his life in the Lake District, in the north-west of England, with his sister Dorothy.
On 15 April 1802, William and Dorothy were walking by the lake of Ullswater on a windy day when they came upon a long belt of wild daffodils along the shore. Dorothy described them in her journal that evening: some seemed to rest their heads on the stones, others tossed and reeled and danced. Two years later William wrote the poem, published in 1807, and in 1815 he added the second stanza.
In the poem, the speaker wandered alone and suddenly saw a crowd of daffodils dancing beside the lake. He didn’t realise at the time what a treasure it was; but now, when he lies on his couch, they often flash upon his inward eye, and his heart dances with them.
A beautiful memory is a treasure you can carry anywhere.
I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud
William Wordsworth (1770–1850)
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.
Words in the poem
wandered: walked without a plan
o’er: over
vales: valleys
host: a very large number
fluttering: moving lightly and quickly
continuous: without a break
margin: edge
sprightly: lively
glee: great joy
gay: happy (old meaning)
jocund: merry, cheerful
gazed: looked for a long time
oft: often
couch: sofa
vacant: empty, not thinking
pensive: thoughtful
bliss: perfect happiness
solitude: being alone
Read and listen: then and now
PHILO
Read the poem. Which stanzas are about the past, and which is about the present? What does the speaker do now when he feels empty?
SOPHIA
Then listen to a reading, and answer Section A.
🌼 Listen to the song: “I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud” (“Daffodils”) (William Wordsworth, 1807, revised 1815).Find a reading →
Similes
MARCOS
I wandered lonely as a cloud. Continuous as the stars that shine.
SOPHIA
A simile compares two things with as or like: (as) lonely as a cloud, like a bird. Poets choose surprising comparisons: a cloud is lonely, flowers are like stars in the Milky Way.
Past simple and present simple
DEMETRIA
I wandered… I saw a crowd… I gazed. → For oft, when on my couch I lie, they flash upon that inward eye.
SOPHIA
The first three stanzas tell one past event in the past simple. The last stanza uses the present simple for a habit now: oft (= often) + present simple. The poem moves from experience to memory.
-ing participles
PHILO
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze. Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.
SOPHIA
An -ing participle after a noun describes what it is doing: I saw the children playing in the park. Notice see + object + -ing again: I saw daffodils dancing.
Poetic inversion and old words
MARCOS
Ten thousand saw I at a glance. (= I saw ten thousand.) A poet could not but be gay. (= could only be happy.)
SOPHIA
In poems, the object can come first and the subject and verb change places. could not but + infinitive = had no choice except to. gay here means happy, its old meaning; jocund = merry; oft = often.
Sophia’s comparison: Narcissus and the Song of Songs
SOPHIA
Did you know the daffodil is a kind of narcissus? The Greeks say the beautiful youth Narcissus fell in love with his own reflection in a pool, and where he died, a flower grew with its head bent down towards the water. Wordsworth’s daffodils, though, look up and dance.
PHILO
And the Song of Songs says: the winter is past, the rain is over and gone; the flowers appear on the earth, the time of singing has come. Spring flowers are a promise.
Sophia’s summary
| Words and forms | Use | Example |
|---|---|---|
| as + adjective + as / like | similes | lonely as a cloud |
| past simple → present simple | an event, then a habit | I saw… / When I lie, they flash… |
| see + object + -ing | something in progress | I saw daffodils dancing. |
| object + verb + subject | poetic inversion | Ten thousand saw I at a glance. |
| could not but + infinitive | had no choice except | A poet could not but be gay. |
Practice
Listen to the song for Section A, then do the rest. Press “Check my answers” at the end. You can try again as many times as you like.
A · Listen: the song
Listen to the song and choose the best answer.
1. How did the speaker feel at the start?
2. Where were the daffodils?
3. How many did he see “at a glance”?
4. What does he do now, on his couch?
5. Who wrote about the daffodils first?
6. Where did they see the daffodils?
B · Grammar and vocabulary
Write the missing word or words.
7. I wandered lonely a cloud.
8. I saw a crowd of daffodils in the breeze. (dance)
9. Ten thousand I at a glance. (see, inversion)
10. For oft, when on my couch I , they flash upon that inward eye. (lie)
11. A poet could not be gay.
12. I saw the children in the park. (play)
C · Right or wrong?
Is the sentence correct English?
13. “I saw the flowers to dance.”
14. “He wandered lonely as a cloud.”
15. “When I will lie on my couch, I remember them.”
16. “She was as happy as a child.”
Talk and write
Discussion and writing
Picture it. Close your eyes while a partner reads the poem slowly. Then draw or describe what you saw. Compare your pictures.
Discuss. 1. What memory do you return to when you feel empty or bored? 2. Should Dorothy get credit for the poem? 3. Can nature make people happier?
Write (100–120 words). My daffodils. Describe a beautiful sight you remember, first in the past simple, then how you remember it now in the present simple. Use one simile and see + object + -ing.
Now play the gamebook: an old grandmother, and a spring she can’t go out to see.Play the gamebook →