Analysis Of I Wandered Lonely As A Cloud

William Wordsworth and his not so Spontaneous Overflow of Powerful Changes in “I wandered lonely as a cloud.”

William Wordsworth wrote that “all good poetry is the spontaneous overflow of powerful feeling: it takes its origin from emotion recollected in tranquillity” (Owen, 329). Wordsworth revised “I wandered lonely as a cloud” after a period of reflection and recollection on the scene of daffodils during a time that placed importance on nature, reflection and imagination. His revised version of “I wandered lonely as a cloud” should be considered the authoritative version as it is a better and more vivid description of the scene of daffodils and reflects the literary movement at the time, i.e. Romanticism. The changes are strongly influenced by the Romantic period in which he revised the poem. Wordsworth didn’t feel he portrayed his memory of the daffodils successfully in the first version and felt the need to make two changes and also to add an extra stanza to better suit or reflect the Romantic period. In this essay I will discuss the common characteristics of poetry in the Romantic era from my reading of various professionals’ essays on this subject. I will talk about the impact the changes and additions that Wordsworth made upon reflecting on his writing have on the poem. I will also argue how the revised version of “I wandered lonely as a cloud” is an improvement compared to the original version in terms of Romantic poetry and should therefore be the authoritative version.

The British Romantic period (1798-1832) is a time that many professionals, from Aidan Day in “Romanticism” to Jerome McGann in “Rethinking Romanticism” have spent their time studying and writing about. The main argument is how to define Roman...

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...oem as a Romantic poem in the revised version. Mary E. Burton describes Wordsworth’s view of nature as “incomprehensibly ecstatic” and he was strongly influenced by living in the Romantic period and was inspired by this time’s style of writing and subjects of writing (300). His peers’ work influenced the changes he made in the poem. He adds more details to the poem which emphasise his love for nature and the beauty of the scene in which he is reflecting on. He shows us how important imagination and reflection is. The beauty of nature and the importance of imagination are characteristics of the Romantic period in which Wordsworth was a part of and strongly influenced by. The second revised version was what he decided he wanted the poem to be like, knowing it would outlast him. It is only fair to say the revised version should be the “real” and authoritative version.