William Wordsworth's
"I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud"
from
Poems, in Two Volumes
[London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, and Orme, 1807]
from Volume Two, "Moods of My Own Mind" #7
7.
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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 dancing Daffodills; | |
Along the Lake, beneath the trees, | 5 |
Ten thousand dancing in the breeze.
| |
The waves beside them danced, but they | |
Outdid the sparkling waves in glee: | |
A Poet could not but be gay | |
In such a laughing company: | 10 |
I gaz'dand gaz'dbut little thought | |
What wealth the shew to me had brought:
| |
For oft when on my couch I lie | |
In vacant or in pensive mood, | |
They flash upon that inward eye | 15 |
Which is the bliss of solitude, | |
And then my heart with pleasure fills, | |
And dances with the Daffodils. | |
Additional stanza found elsewhere, between stanzas 1 & 2:
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.
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