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Alondra Blanco
Professor Holly Batty
English 102 (25031)
September 20, 2017
The Value that Nature Holds

When people grow up living in a big city with tall skyscrapers, busy streets, and foggy skies

they don't realize that they're missing out on a great deal of fortune the is both within their reach

and free of charge. Growing up I had heard a lot of people telling me that the greatest things in

life were free, but up until I fully read William Wordsworth's "I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud"

the only wealth that I had know was materialistic value. In Wordsworth's poem a scene of

daffodils is presented to the reader in great details and anyone that doesn't read the poem

carefully will simply look at the poem as a nature scene, however the images described by the

Wordsworth are enlaced with sentimental feeling and the utmost respect for nature. Although

many argue that something as simple as the sight of yellow daffodils are not to be considered

valuable, I suggest that perhaps not everything with "real value" is classified as an object with a

price tag that has a number followed by infinite amount of zeros and commas. We will be able

to identify the meaning of value by first understanding what the poem is about, secondly by

viewing why the author would think this, and lastly by comparing nature image from back then

to the nature that we have now.

The title of the poem is the first sentence the first stanza leading the reading straight into the

poem and not having them think too much about what the poem is going to be about. The poem

starts off already using figurative language and uses a simile to describe how the narrator was

wandering in open territory very calmly, when all of a sudden he saw a A host, of golden

daffodils: (Wordsworth 4). The mentioning of the daffodils changes the tone of the poem from
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calm to excited, the simple sight of them has now enlightened the narrator. He goes on to

compare their glow of the daffodils to stars, this also demonstrates the use of a metaphor as he is

saying that they are continuous as the stars that shine (Wordsworth 7). At this point one can

already begin to picture what the daffodils are like. The use of imagery describes where the

daffodils are located, what they look like, and how they move. Apart from what they they look

like the author wants to stimulate all of the senses a person has seeing them is not enough. The

way that they are described as moving, fluttering and dancing in the breeze. (Wordsworth 6)

make the reader not only see them move from side to side but to also feel the breeze that is

hitting the daffodils. The next few lines continue to do the same admiring the beauty of the actual

flower in stanza 3 the narrator finally acknowledges himself a poet could not but be gay,/ In

such a jocund company: (Wordsworth 15-16) I would say that for line 16 the author uses a

slight use of personification when referring to the daffodils as company and by referring to

himself the reader can now feel the joy that the narrator is feeling. The meaning of wealth is also

mentioned in this stanza. Up until now wealth had not been mentioned but had been described

and now the author is making a connection with the two; What wealth the show to me had

brought: (Wordsworth 18). The way that wealth is described describes the beauty in what the

author sees. Yes there is no material wealth from looking at a scene of flowers and a river, or

feeling the breeze on your face but nature will provide you with these thing for feel and make

you feel happier to be outdoors and taking in the sunlight, all this for no cost at all. The last

stanza no longer looks at the field but at a memory of the said daffodil fields. The memory of

the daffodils was so breath-taking that even when the narrator lies on his couch In vacant or in

pensive mood(s) (Wordsworth 20) he still looks back at the memory of the daffodilsand his

ability to recreate the vision of them in his mind, bring him great pleasure. What i get from this
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poem is that nature is a beautiful thing that in times of need can offer what material wealth can

not and this is what i believe to be the theme of the poem.

You know that expression you never really know someone until youve walked a mile in

their shoes, well when I first read this poem I pictured William Wordsworth to be bright spirited

and to have lived a good life surrounded with everything he needed around him. That was not the

case however, the way that he looks at nature around him is because he himself didnt have much

of anything growing up. Having both his parents died when he was still young must have taken a

tole on him, Apart from losing his parents, upon entering St. Johns College there really wasnt

much he could do to be able to run with wealth people, his clothes plain and unsophisticated,

and his manner awkward, neither excelled as a scholar nor fitted smoothly into fashionable social

circles. This was enough for Wordsworth to understand the true meaning of wealth. When your

clothes and appearance arent enough to push you forward then they really must not be as

important as people make them out to be. Wordsworth later did come into some money without

having to resort to selfish ties and was left mony upon a friend's deathbed, when money no

longer being an issue he could finally rent a cottage and recover his peace of mind. With that

being said I think that given the author's history with losing his parts and not having the best

social life in his early ages that that is why he would want to look at joyous things that have no

value. He didnt have much to give and that is when he realized that not all valuable things are

materialistic. The way that nature is talked about in his poem explains what Wordsworth thought

of nature and how idt was always there offered to all, instead of a selected few, and never turned

anyone away, especially someone like him who had not much to offer.
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In Wordsworths times (1770- 1850) there were so many things that could have influenced his

vision on why he looks at nature the way that he did. Maybe it was the fact that he didnt have

parents to guide him, or maybe it was that walks at school helped him understand that nature

accepted him when wealth children did not. These could have all been tied together to make him

talk about beauty in such a caring way Another major event that could have influenced his

perspective was the French Revolution. In times of war we have seen the good and bad of people

from all over the world. I perhaps think that along with the elements mentioned before war was a

big part of viewing beauty, because if all you see is destruction and turmoil then it really takes its

tole on a person. Many people interpret it different ways some people fall into the darkness and

continue to write about the gruesomeness that surround then but others look past their horrible

present look at the beauty that still surrounds them. In a way i think that the French Revolution

inspired and motivated Wordsworth to keep the idea of beauty in his poems.

Nature was an important topic in I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud and it really explained the

true meaning of value by giving descriptive vision of what the author was seeing. In the end

value is nothing more than something that brings joy to you in any time of need. It is different for

everyone, to some people its the sight of the first leaf that falls when fall is approaching and to

others it's walking into the mall with an unlimited credit card. Value is something that can be

materialistic whether it has sentimental value or actual value, but nature is something that come

without a price if looked at the correct way. So next time that that you pass a tree, field, or flower

bed remember that these are the real things that are free, that this type of beauty is not displaying

in a magazine or have a price tag, but that It will deliver wealth to you when you need it.
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Works Cited:

Aubrey, Bryan. William Wordsworth. Salem Press Biographical Encyclopedia, Salem Press,

2016. Ers,

library.lavc.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ers&AN=888

07542&site=eds-live. Accessed 20 Sept. 2017.

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"Overview: 'I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud'." Poetry for Students, edited by Sara Constantakis,

vol. 33, Gale, 2010. Literature Resource Center,

library.lavc.edu:2077/ps/i.do?p=GLS&sw=w&u=lavc_main&v=2.1&it=r&id=GALE%7CH1430

007013&asid=627f04823f51e42c017c4b65c1998907. Accessed 25 Sept. 2017.