Daffodils by William Wordsworth - Summary

This poem is penned by William Wordsworth. The poem is inspired from his sister Dorothy’s journal, describing the walk of Wordsworth and her around Glencoyne Bay, Ullswater in the Lake District. Lake District is a mountainous region in North West England. It is famous for its lakes, forests and mountains (or fells) and its associations with the early 19th century writings of Wordsworth and other Lake poets.

In this poem, the poet describes how he walked lonely without any purpose to places like a cloud which fly high over valleys and hills. While his wandering, he noticed a bed of golden daffodils beside the lake. The daffodils were dancing with the breeze just as the fluttering of wings of a bird. They were moving as the continuously twinkling of stars in the Milky Way. They are endless in numbers and spread to the edge of the bay. He reckoned the numbers of daffodils in tens of thousands. The daffodils move their heads in their energetic dance.

The waves along with the daffodils are also dancing but their joy and energy are incomparable with the daffodils. By watching this beautiful scene, a poet could only be filled with happiness. In this cheerful company of the golden pearls, the poet gazes the daffodils and wondering what are the benefits of this show to him. Often when he is blank minded or deep lost in his thoughts and lied on his couch or sofa, the flashes of that beautiful scene come before his eyes and this great joy can be felt in loneliness. These flashes fill poet’s heart with pleasure and perfect happiness and begin to dance with the daffodils.