I wandered 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 stretched 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.

Hello, and welcome back to Poetry Wednesday 5/27/09. You can sign in today and take the tour thru Thursday, so take your time.

I’ll be your hostess again this week. My sister, Sans Souci, has completed her poetry book, and is taking a break, but she will check in.

Before we get started, please make sure that your post has a link to get back to this page to make it easier to take the tour:

1) Copy and paste the following link that I have provided for you from this page to somewhere on your poetry post.

Link here to the Poetry Wednesday tour on Laurita’s page

2) Leave the link of your poetry post in the comments section below. This is the link guests will click on to read your poem.

William Wordworth was one of the great Romantic poets of 19th-century England. His poems celebrated the glories of nature and the human spirit while using the simple language of the “common man” — a radical idea for the time. Wordsworth studied at Cambridge University and then traveled in France during the Revolution, an experience which affected deeply his own political leanings. On his return to England he met Samuel Taylor Coleridge, and in 1798 they published the collection Lyrical Ballads. It included both Coleridge’s “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner” and Wordsworth’s “Tintern Abbey,” a rumination on man and nature inspired by the “steep and lofty cliffs” and “pastoral farms” around the stone ruins of the ancient church. Critics hooted at Wordworth’s poems and his politics early in his career, but in later years he became accepted as a key voice in the Romantic movement. His other works include Poems in Two Volumes (1807) and The Excursion (1814). He was poet laureate of England from 1843 until his death in 1850. His autobiographical epic, “The Prelude,” was published by his wife after his death.

Would anyone like to go for a walk ?

 The tour starts here, with you.