Classical and Romantic Criticism assignment

Name:- Maimoona Tariq

Teachers Name:- Mrs. Mahwish Khan
Date:-29th September 2015

Question:
Analyze the poem Daffodils according to the preface to the lyrical ballads in
setting, language, poetic diction and poet?
Answer:
William Wordsworth wrote Daffodils in account of the inspiration by the journal
which her sister Dorothy wrote about daffodils. It was in the memory of that
journey, in which she and her brother saw the flowers when they were walking by
Ullswater on a stormy day. However, in that journal she describes how the
daffodils tossed and twirled and danced, and seemed as if they verily laughed with
the wind that blew upon them over the lake.
As we know that, William Wordsworth is considered to be a Romantic poet.
Wordsworths idea of romanticism was different from the other poets of his time.
He romanticized nature, he said that nature gives something that purifies the soul
and guide it. He believed that nature is God and God is nature. He wrote a Preface
to lyrical ballads, which serves as a guide to his readers for understanding the
purpose and true meaning of his poetry.Also, he wanted his readers to derive
maximum pleasure out of his poetry rather than developing their own
psychological interpretations.
Mostly rustic life was the setting of his poetry because according to him rustic life
is away from the artificialities, bitter realities of life, under less restraint and

impurity of soul. It is a kind of place where man can find the connection of him
and his soul and his soul can connect him to God. In other words, in rustic life
nature is all around and since nature is the manifestation of God. Its easy to find
God. Wordsworth had a point that it is something which is already found over there
in you, its something which is internal. Its not something which is external.
Whereas in city life people consider it to be external. Hence their quest and search
remains unfulfilled. In Daffodils, we can notice the same thing. We can notice
many signs of nature which are the proof of being in a rustic area. For example, see
at the very beginning of the poem the poet is giving us a very natural image of a
cloud floating high over vales and hills. Then he talks about daffodils which are
beside the lake under the trees. When he saw twinkling stars in the sky he feels like
they are shinning on a milky way. These words clouds, vales, hills, lake, trees,
daffodils, stars, Milky Way gives us a very natural feel. Wordsworth wanted the
soul of the man submerged with the nature become one and derive pleasure. So
over here is trying to evoke the feelings of the people by a very simple imagery of
nature.
The other important aspect upon which he focused on being a poet was the
language of the poet. He believed that a poet should use simple language. He
called it the language of the real men as well. The poets before him used to write
poetry in a manner, a symmetry, rhythm and balance etc. Wordsworth did not
believe in this all. Moreover, he rejected the idea of using difficult words which the
common people were unable to understand and also he disliked the idea of using
flowery language. He felt that the poet should try explaining the events and
feelings in an easier way rather than in a complicated way. This was so because he
thought that this the way by which things can be expressed more beautifully and
the way they actually are and the way every them. He did not believe in using a

kind of language which is absurd, absurd in a sense that it does not help you in
catching your soul from nature. In other words, if its not helping you in
connecting yourself with nature then its vague. Now, if you look at the poem he
used very simple words which could be understood by everyone. Even those, the
ones who only know the basic easy words and do not know the complexity of the
language and meaning.
Now coming to the Poetic Diction, it is basically the language, expression and style
of something that is being written. Particularly, Wordsworths Poetic Diction has 4
parts:

Observation
Recollection
Contemplation
ImaginativeProcess

If we analyze Daffodils keeping these things in mind. We see the observation part
when the poet simply tells us about being himself as a cloud floating high over
vales and seeing the large number of daffodils beneath the lake under the trees like
the continuous shine of stars in the Milky Way. The waves beside those daffodils
were dancing but daffodils were dancing better than the waves.
We can see the element of recollection when the poet talks about being laying on
the couch when he is feeling melancholic and remembering this whole pleasurable
event fills joy in him.
They flash upon that inward eye
Which is the bliss of solitude;

Then comes the element of contemplation, it can be clearly seen when the poet
says that he gazed and gazed upon the daffodils and thought a little that what had
he got from looking at them?
What wealth the show to me had brought
And final, there comes the element of imaginative process. It can be observed
when the poet talks about the dancing daffodils, tossing their heads, sparkling
waves etc because these are the events which the poet painted. In a sense that for
an instance daffodils dont dance and they cant glee these are the human attributes
which the poet has given to the daffodils.
Lets talk about the idea of poet according to Wordsworth. He considered that a
poet is a man whose duty is to be more sensitive than the other people and who
should be more sensible, have enthusiasm and tenderness. In other others, we can
say that the poet must have a comprehensive soul which should be common among
mankind. He also proposed that the poet should have an added disposition to be
affected by things which are absent and are not present than the other men. And a
poet should be someone who feels more for humans and works centered around the
nature. He believed that nature is pure because it is the untamed part. At the same
time, he also considered that a poets duty is to direct the attention of the reader
towards the sympathies of life. For example, we see that he himself has done the
job of a poet beautifully in this poem Daffodils because are simply just flowers
and for a common man it is hard to write something about daffodils because after
all they are just flowers. He feels the actions of the flowers more than common
men can merely see daffodils fluttering and dancing, shinning of stars at the Milky
Way, tossing heads of daffodils, dancing waves etc. He creates such an effective
effect on the readers that how differently a person can actually look at these simple

flowers daffodils and feel them, love them and paint them doing all that so with the
poet. So, I think he has done his job very well. He actually applied his own
criticism to his own poems.