Daffodils william wordswoth poetic techniques..please help !!

[alinak]

I am doing this poem for my GCSE and i really need help!
Analyse and explain what techniques and features of texts eg metapors, imagery... have been used to convey the idea of an imaginary journey.
or simply just point out the poetic techniques. so far ive only come up with the personification of 'i wandered lonely as a cloud" please any help much appreciate!!!!



"Daffodils" (1804)
I WANDER'D 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 trees,
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.
Continuous as the stars that shine


And twinkle on the Milky Way,
They stretch'd 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


Out-did 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:
For oft, 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 pleasure fills,
And dances with the daffodils.

By William Wordsworth (1770-1850).

[sybilline]

To convey the idea that it is an imaginary journey, W uses a simile (as a cloud), which likens himself to the lighteness and motion of the cloud (floats, over). So the journey of the cloud becomes his journey. The parallelism of the use of "I" and the third person (they, the waves, ten thousand...) in the first 3 paragraphs make clear that there are two actants in the poem, the poet and Nature. It is an imaginary journey in Nature, which he relates with his vision (repetion of the same verbs : I saw, saw I, I gazed, and gazed).
The journey is supernatural. The poet uses hyperbole (exaggeration) to describe the daffodils. They are transformed into shining stars, as if there were no limit between the sky and the earth. Their personification (crowd, head, dance, ...) removes the limit between the poet and the flowers, as if they were partaking of the same motion of life.
W conveys his inward feelings through spatial elements (beside, beneath). He never uses a semantic field relating to his feeling, except in the last paragraph (pensive), as if the sole visual perception (saw, gaze) were sufficient. That is why he lays stress on their immensity, by an inversion (Ten thousand...). I must go out now. Good luck !

[Goodfella]

Wishing you good luck.

[alinak]

thankyou so much for this!! youve really helped me

[pjohara]

This is one of W's great poems and one that locked me into a life as an aspiring poet and writer (literary artist).

My suggestion is to think of W's main purpose, "his calling" as a poet which he stated in the Prelude. If your Professor would allow you some slack on the Formal line, try to place yourself in the poem and imagine yourself as a cloud. Then, write down what you see, feel and experince and try translating these into the technical langauge of literature.

This poem is a cross between a lyrical and narrative, parhaps more of the narrative.

I cannot say much more than sybilline below. It would be good to express some of your originality.

PJO