Prepared by :
Mr. AbdelRahman Mohammed Rashed * This book is adapted from : “A selection of poetry and conversation s” for the prep. stage. Published in 2002
Poetry is the oldest form of literature. Poetry is like music. It creates beautiful sounds with words. It expresses feelings and ideas.
Figures of Speech:-
1-Personification: To regard a thing or animal as a person. " I am busy " said the sea . The poet personifies the sea and makes it talk. 2-Simile: comparison of one thing to another using as or like. He walks like a king. 3-Metaphor: comparison of one thing to another without using as or like. He is the lion. (he is strong and brave) 4-Rhyme: It means that the words at the end of lines sound alike.
By : William Wordsworth " 1770 - 1850"  Introduction : William Wordsworth was the first great poet of the
Romantic Period.
He was sent to school. He toured the
countryside. He was influenced by the nature and country people. This nature love influenced his writings. In 1787, he got his degree
then toured Europe. With his sister Dorothy, he published his first book, lyrical Ballads .
In 1802 William married Mary
Hutchinson. In 1843 Wordsworth was crowned Poet Laureate.
Click here to listen to the poem
First stanza :
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 tree, Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.
Vocabulary :
Wandered: - walking slowly. A crowd: - a large number. A host: - a large number. Daffodils: - a kind of wild flowers. Fluttering: - moving from side to side.
O'er:- over Vales: - valleys Beneath: - under Breeze: - gentle air
The Rhyme Scheme :-
( ab ab cc)
(a) (b) (a) (b) (c) (c)
Paraphrase: The poet was walking alone without any aim, like a cloud which flies over valleys and hills. He suddenly saw a large number of the daffodils. They were beside the lake and under the trees. They were moving and dancing in the gentle air.
Figures of speech :1) Simile: -
"as a cloud"
He likens himself to a cloud.
2) Personification: " Fluttering and dancing" He gives the daffodils the image of people who move and dance. 3 ) Contrast :- ( lonely x crowd)
(O'ver x under)
(vales x hills).
4 ) Alliteration: (high – hills) (beside- beneath) To give music to appeal our sense of hearing.
Second Stanza :
Continuous as the stars that shine. And twinkle in 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.
(a) (b) (a) (b) (c) (c)
Vocabulary :
Twinkle: - giving light repeatedly on and off. Milky Way: - the star system including the Earth. Margin: - edge bay: gulf Sprightly: - beautiful Glance: - look Tossing: - rising up
Paraphrase : The daffodils stretch along the lake like the stars that shine in the sky. They were so many that you can't see its end along the edge of the gulf of the lake. They were so many that the poet saw ten thousand at a glance. They were rising up their heads in a beautiful dance.
Figures of speech : 1 ) Simile: "As the stars" The poet likens the daffodils to stars. 2) Personification: "Tossing their heads in sprightly dance." The poet gives the daffodils the image of people who rise up their heads and dance.
Third Stanza:
The waves beside them danced; but they Outdid 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 :
(a) (b) (a) (b) (c) (c)
Vocabulary : Outdid: - did something better than the others. Glee / wealth : - happiness. Gay / jocund: - happy. Gazed: - look fixedly at.
Paraphrase : The water in the lake was moving and dancing as well but the daffodils were dancing more beautifully that made the poet happy.
Figures of speech : 1) Personification: "And dances with the daffodils." The poet gives his heart the image of a person who can dance. 2) Devices: 1- Contrast :( vacant x pensive). 2-Alliteration: (dance– daffodils) To give music to appeal our sense of hearing.
Figures of speech : 1) Personification: "The waves beside them danced" The poet gives the waves the image of people who can dance. 2) Alliteration: (what – wealth) To give music to appeal our sense of hearing.
Forth Stanza:
For often, 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 pleasures fills, And dances with the daffodils.
Vocabulary: Couch: - sofa Pensive: - busy Bliss: - happiness
vacant: - free inward eye: - memory solitude: - loneliness
(a) (b) (a) (b) (c) (c)
Paraphrase : Sometimes, when the poet lies at home thinking and feeling unhappy. He remembers the beautiful daffodils which he saw that day, then his heart fills with happiness and peace.  Romantic period: Romanticism (also the Romantic era or the Romantic period) was an artistic, literary, and intellectual movement that originated in Europe toward the end of the 18th century and in most areas was at its peak in the approximate period from 1800 to 1850.
 lyrical Ballads: Lyrical Ballads, with a Few Other Poems is a collection of poems by William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge, first published in 1798 and generally considered to have marked the beginning of the English Romantic movement in literature. The immediate effect on critics was modest, but it became and remains a landmark, changing the course of English literature and poetry.
1. https://youtu.be/GOb-iGj87nk?list=PL2C9E11D8EEB792F8 2. A selection of poetry and conversations, 2002 3. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romanticism 4. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lyrical_Ballads
ď €For more reading and listening to poetry visit this site: https://www.youtube.com/user/PearlsofWisdom