Activities

1. This poem is also called "The Daffodils." Which name do you think is more appropriate considering the inspiration and the purpose of the poem? Why is it more effective or meaningful? Is Wordsworth more focused on creating a setting for this particular event to occur or is he more interested in the event itself?

2. "I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud" is considered a lyrical ballad. According to Wikipedia, "a ballad is a narrative poem, usually set to music; thus, it often is a story told in a song. Any story form may be told as a ballad, such as historical accounts or fairy tales in verse form. It usually has foreshortened, alternating four-stress lines ("ballad meter") and simple repeating rhymes, often with a refrain."

Ballad meter is "a variant of the common metre is the ballad metre, which is often used in ballads. Like the common metre, it has stanzas of four iambic lines. The first and third typically have four-stresses; the second and fourth have three-stresses and usually rhyme. The ballad metre is distinguished from the common metre in that it has the rhyme scheme X A X A instead of A B A B."

Does Wordsworth follow the archetype, for the most part? Find another lyrical ballad not written by Wordsworth and analyze how it fits into the archetype of lyrical ballads. Other poets known for writing lyrical ballads include Samuel Taylor Coleridge and John Keats, the latter of which did a series of odes closely resembling ballads.