William Wordsworth, the author of "I wandered lonely as a Cloud" (seen in the post A Poem for Spring) is a fascinating and wonderful poet. He is one of the English Romantics, the others being William Blake, Samuel Coleridge, Lord Byron, Percy Bysshe Shelley, and John Keats. The Romantics lived and write between the late 18th to early 19th century in England (roughly the same time America had their Transcendentalists).Romanticism is defined as, "A term describing qualities that colored most elements of European and American intellectual life in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, from literature, art, and music, through architecture, landscape gardening, philosophy, and politics. With the social, political, and intellectual structures of society, the Romantics stressed the separateness of the person, celebrated individual perception and imagination, and embraced nature as a model for harmony in society and art. Their view was an egalitarian one, stressing the value of expressive abilities common to all, inborn rather than developed through training (Damrosch 1125.)
Dorothy never thought of herself as a true writer/poet and never truly wanted to publish her work, which she said for her family and friends as well for local records (her Grasmere Journals). With a few publications done by her brother along with his own work, her work was not truly published until the end of 19th century, decades after her death which was brought on by a combination of years of illnesses and a pre-senile dementia that is said to be similar to Alzheimer’s disease, and old age.
Dorothy lived and traveled with William for most of her adult life, which creates the parallel that is found in their works. This is wonderfully seen in Dorothy’s entry in one of her Grasmere Journals:
Thursday 15th. [April 1802] - 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 seeds ashore & that the little colony had so sprung up - But as we went along there were more & yet more & at last under the boughs of a country turnpike road. I never saw daffodils so beautiful they grew among the mossy stones about & about them, some rested their heads upon these stones as on a pillow for weariness & the rest tossed & reeled & danced & seemed as if they verily laughed with the wind that blew upon them over the Lake, they looked so gay ever glancing ever changing. This wind blew directly over the lake to them. There was her & there a little knot & a few stragglers a few yards higher up but the were so few as not to disturb the simplicity & unity & life of their one busy highway. we rested again & again. the Bays were stormy, & we heard the waves at different distances and in the middle of the water like the Sea (555.)
To see the similarities between Williams poem and Dorothy's journal entry is fantastic. Plus, there is a very interesting fact about this. William wrote "I wandered lonely as a Cloud" in 1804 (he did do a revision and republication in 1815), two years Dorothy's journal entry. It is believed that upon reading Dorothy's work William was inspired to write his poem. Unlike the few who do not believe this fact, I, personally, believe it and think it's incredible.
However, despite William being influence by Dorothy’s journal, there is a noticeable difference in the way both poets write. First, and probably most noticeable is the style of writing. Dorothy’s “A Field of Daffodils” is wonderfully detailed, as many personal journals are like. I personally love her descriptions of the flowers:
“I never saw daffodils so beautiful they grew among the mossy stones about & about them, some rested their heads upon these stones as a pillow for weariness & the rest tossed & reeled & danced & seemed as if they verily laughed with the wind that blew upon them over the Lake, they looked so gay ever glancing ever changing.”
I can truly see her imagery and hear a bright, clear laughter as if someone is in rapture.
In comparison, William has a more of poetic take on the same setting:
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
Outdid the sparkling waves in glee: - (l. 9-14)
As seen, while Dorothy is simply reported of the entire event with details, which are poetic in their own sense, William as made the event with a great poetic focus on nature (very Romantic).
Another interesting aspect of these sibling writers that I wanted to include in this novella-of-a-post is their involvement, with fellow writers and poets, in the abolition of British slavery and slave trade. William wrote several poems on the matter, such as "To Thomas Clarkson," which he wrote to his friend upon the bill of abolition being passed in the year 1807.
In my opinion these writers are simply wonderful.
Damrosch, David, and Kevin Dettmar, eds. The Longman Anthology: British Literature. 3rd ed. Vol. 2A. New York: Pearson Education, Inc, 2006. 1125.
Wordsworth, Dorothy. "A Field Of Daffodils." The Longman Anthology: British Literature. Ed. David Damrosch and Kevin J. H. Dettmar. New York: Pearson Education, Inc, 2006. 555.
