A Close Reading of William Wordsworth's "I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud"

This lesson provides a close reading of Wordsworth's "I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud," explaining both poetic techniques (e.g., personification, hyperbole, etc.) as well as the poem's meaning.
The Nature of Writing is a KZread channel and website (natureofwriting.com/) dedicated to the teaching of English literature and writing. We provide a complete writing guide for students in high-school and university. With hundreds of videos, detailed lessons, and quizzes, you have access to the right tools to become an outstanding writer.
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Пікірлер: 57

  • @elenilipcar1984
    @elenilipcar19846 жыл бұрын

    Presentation, commentary, explanations...all of high quality.

  • @thenatureofwriting9222

    @thenatureofwriting9222

    6 жыл бұрын

    Thank you for your kind words!

  • @reimannx33
    @reimannx334 жыл бұрын

    The poem is sublime , and your explanation have a beauty too. Thanks.

  • @thenatureofwriting9222

    @thenatureofwriting9222

    4 жыл бұрын

    Thanks!

  • @giancarlaseveri2880
    @giancarlaseveri28804 жыл бұрын

    I liked this commentary and especially the last part that leaves the students with challenging questions but I think this poem should be read together with the Preface to the Lyrical Ballads to show how Wordsworth puts in practice his own theory about writing successful poetry.

  • @thenatureofwriting9222

    @thenatureofwriting9222

    4 жыл бұрын

    Thanks, Giancarla. This video is part of a longer series that looks at the poem from multiple angles. In fact, I do touch on Wordsworth's Lyrical Ballads elsewhere: natureofwriting.com/courses/writing-about-literature/lessons/historical-context/ Hope that helps!

  • @alfredosolari7597
    @alfredosolari75976 жыл бұрын

    Thank you so much for such a clear and close reading of this beautiful poem. You really opened it up for me . Brilliant.

  • @thenatureofwriting9222

    @thenatureofwriting9222

    6 жыл бұрын

    Thanks, Alfredo. Your kind words are much appreciated!

  • @mohammedyaseen5889
    @mohammedyaseen58895 ай бұрын

    Brilliant presentation 🎉🎉

  • @juneblake3651
    @juneblake36516 жыл бұрын

    Very informing and clear, thank you.

  • @palakseksaria6396
    @palakseksaria63963 жыл бұрын

    truly wonderful! the poem and the way it is analysed. SO helpful, thankyou.

  • @mlwee6796
    @mlwee67967 ай бұрын

    In school, back in 1972, I remember we were forced by our English Language teacher to memorise this very poem. During English lessons, we have to recite the poem in front of the class. I guess some of you were not born yet that time.

  • @wilhelmmyren
    @wilhelmmyren3 жыл бұрын

    So glad I've found your channel, gold content!

  • @adithissekhar3715
    @adithissekhar37152 жыл бұрын

    Wow! This presentation was AMAZING!

  • @DanielL143
    @DanielL1433 жыл бұрын

    I wandered lonely on the cloud and found this great channel. Thanks.

  • @thenatureofwriting9222

    @thenatureofwriting9222

    2 жыл бұрын

    Haha -- thanks!

  • 2 жыл бұрын

    I loved the way you present and explain. Thank you for such a nice video. Greetings from 🇹🇷

  • @thenatureofwriting9222

    @thenatureofwriting9222

    2 жыл бұрын

    Thanks very much!

  • @luLu-ld3gq
    @luLu-ld3gq2 жыл бұрын

    It really helps me to finish my homework, thanks a lot

  • @raccoon-ek7wd
    @raccoon-ek7wd4 жыл бұрын

    Thanks man, my english teacher recommended you :D

  • @nicknameinuse1607
    @nicknameinuse16074 жыл бұрын

    Thank you sir, I love your explanations

  • @matteienrico1484
    @matteienrico14848 ай бұрын

    molto bello ed interessante, la prof mi interrogherà su questo prevedo il futuro.

  • @AbhishekSinghParihar2
    @AbhishekSinghParihar25 жыл бұрын

    Nice explanation and analysis respect from India :)

  • @thenatureofwriting9222

    @thenatureofwriting9222

    5 жыл бұрын

    Thanks! Best wishes from Canada. :)

  • @elenilipcar1984
    @elenilipcar19846 жыл бұрын

    Excellent work!

  • @N.alsaawi
    @N.alsaawi2 жыл бұрын

    Thanks a million. You helped a lot

  • @samarzardi6680
    @samarzardi66804 жыл бұрын

    thank you, it's very beneficial

  • @surbhikumari2451
    @surbhikumari24514 жыл бұрын

    Best of all the videos..Thank you.

  • @thenatureofwriting9222

    @thenatureofwriting9222

    4 жыл бұрын

    Thanks. :)

  • @septiraalma2568
    @septiraalma25686 жыл бұрын

    this is very helpful. thank you so much.

  • @thenatureofwriting9222

    @thenatureofwriting9222

    6 жыл бұрын

    You're welcome!

  • @liver2001
    @liver20016 жыл бұрын

    splendid

  • @mizzyroro
    @mizzyroro5 жыл бұрын

    Does the poet thinks through all these devices and techniques you speak of before writing or during writing or does he write more spontaneously and we superimpose these devices and techniques onto his artistic work? A question that has always haunted me.

  • @thenatureofwriting9222

    @thenatureofwriting9222

    5 жыл бұрын

    It's a great question, and I suspect the answer is both!

  • @mariaaaa1128

    @mariaaaa1128

    2 жыл бұрын

    My literary criticism university professor answered a similar question on this topic, he actually said the shorter a piece of work(poem for example) the more the author or writer put so much thought into choosing what literary devices and techniques to use.

  • @germanadela0
    @germanadela04 жыл бұрын

    thank you

  • @lxz01
    @lxz014 жыл бұрын

    Thankyou very very much

  • @thenatureofwriting9222

    @thenatureofwriting9222

    4 жыл бұрын

    You are most welcome.

  • @giancarlaseveri2880
    @giancarlaseveri28804 жыл бұрын

    Are there any other such commentaries on famous poems or novels?

  • @thenatureofwriting9222

    @thenatureofwriting9222

    4 жыл бұрын

    Absolutely. As I create more videos on English literature I'll add them here: natureofwriting.com/courses/english-literature/

  • @myvideochannel6404
    @myvideochannel64042 жыл бұрын

    can the word dance be considered as a motif?

  • @mizzyroro
    @mizzyroro5 жыл бұрын

    I would have another approach to the word 'lonley'. I do not believe the use of the word speaks of the poet's feeling but of is aloneless his singularity or solitariness. He is wandering lonely as a single cloud. The tension is between this solitary condition in the beginning to his sudden accompaniment of an immense crowd of flowers in the middle to his once again solitariness on his couch but this time also accompanied by the memory of the crowd of flowers. So the overarching underlying theme is that of isolation verses immersing in one's surroundings.

  • @thenatureofwriting9222

    @thenatureofwriting9222

    5 жыл бұрын

    Good point, although isolation does tend to make us lonely, so it's really about the interaction between these terms. Wordsworth is trying to make the surprising claim that when is isolated in nature he doesn't have to feel lonely because he is surrounded by a crowd of daffodils.

  • @radrook4481
    @radrook44815 жыл бұрын

    Thanks for the video, Very informative! BTW I understood the word host as a repetition of the word crowd for emphasis. So in translating it to Spanish, I used the word hueste and not anfitrion. writerdreams.freeforums.net/thread/331/wandered-lonely-wordsworth-translated-spanish

  • @thenatureofwriting9222

    @thenatureofwriting9222

    5 жыл бұрын

    Yes, "host" is another word for "crowd." Glad you enjoyed the video.

  • @helenazaussmer3419
    @helenazaussmer34196 жыл бұрын

    😩😶😨🤭

  • @horationelson57
    @horationelson576 жыл бұрын

    I much enjoyed your wee tutorial of a poem I did not study for my English major 20 years ago. And I clicked the subscribe button. However, I was more than a little dissappointed to have also clicked the ''show more'' button and to find the ghastly nonsense of *Introduction to Marxist theory, '' and *Marxist analysis.'' My question? Whenever will this rubbish, this degenerate Marxist theory die the death that it deserves ( think of the absurdity of Nazi theory/ Nazi analysis)? How can academia continue condemning one form of political abomination and yet embracing something equally as objectionable?

  • @thenatureofwriting9222

    @thenatureofwriting9222

    6 жыл бұрын

    Hi Paul, good question about Marxist analysis. I'm not a Marxist at all, and yet I find some of Marx's ideas interesting and useful. In literary studies, a Marxist analysis simply means an attempt to relate a text to the broader social and economic conditions of the time. In Wordsworth's case, for example, that might mean thinking about how Romantic poets reacted to the industrial revolution. It does not mean that you have to start a revolution. Hope that helps!

  • @horationelson57

    @horationelson57

    6 жыл бұрын

    Greetings and thank you for your reply. I adore English literature even though I had also to endure lectures and tutorials about jackals prattling on about deconstruction and post modernism (Derrida...and the prince of jackals, Foucault as well as others) I remember the day Derrida died in 2004 and going to bed overjoyed and musing to myself, ''Good riddance; that's one less depraved animal in the world.'' The moral refuge of virtue-signaling can, to some extent, explain they ''why'' of Marxist criticism. (Oh, I did study Wordsworth's ''Michael" ...a perfect example of the Romantic poet up against the evils of the industrial revolution, however, there was no post-mod/ Marxist slant because the particular lecturer I enjoyed loathed and abominated Marxism( a rare bird in Australian tertiary education---humanities) Cheers and kind regards!

  • @Lakshyam9

    @Lakshyam9

    4 жыл бұрын

    I am from India and I feel truly happy to read these comments 🤩

  • @bobpolo2964

    @bobpolo2964

    4 жыл бұрын

    @@horationelson57 You were pleased to see another human being die?

  • @horationelson57

    @horationelson57

    4 жыл бұрын

    @@bobpolo2964 Yes, I was thrilled with Derrida's departure as I will be thrilled again when the likes of Noam Chomsky, Barack Inane Obummer & Harridan Hillary shuffle off collectively.