Continuous as the stars that shine
And twinkle on the milky way,
They
stretched
in never-ending line
Along the margin of a bay: 10
Ten thousand saw I at a glance,
Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.
William Wordsworth
--H. C. R.]
* * * * *
"I WANDERED LONELY AS A CLOUD"
Composed 1804.--Published 1807
[Town-end, 1804. The two best lines in it are by Mary. The daffodils
grew, and still grow, on the margin of Ullswater, and probably may be
seen to this day as beautiful in the month of March, nodding their
golden heads beside the dancing and foaming waves.--I. F.]
This was No. VII. in the series of Poems, entitled, in the edition of
1807, "Moods of my own Mind." In 1815, and afterwards, it was classed by
Wordsworth among his "Poems of the Imagination."--Ed.
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 [1] daffodils;
Beside the lake, beneath the trees, 5
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.
[2]
Continuous as the stars that shine
And twinkle on the milky way,
They
stretched
in never-ending line
Along the margin of a bay: 10
Ten thousand saw I at a glance,
Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.
[3]
The waves beside them danced; but they
Out-did the sparkling waves in glee:
A poet could not but be gay, [4] 15
In such a jocund [5] 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, 20
They flash upon that inward eye
Which is the bliss of solitude;
And then my heart with pleasure fills,
And dances with the daffodils.
* * * * *
VARIANTS ON THE TEXT
[Variant 1:
1815.
... dancing ... 1807.]
[Variant 2:
1815.
Along the Lake, beneath the trees,
Ten thousand dancing in the breeze. 1807]
[Variant 3: This stanza was added in the edition of 1815.]
