V6 Romanticism William Wordsworth

• Engels
• Middelbare school
• vwo
• Leerjaar 6

Wordsworth was formost the

1. poet who wrote about the supernatural
2. poet who wrote about the medieval past
3. poet who wrote about nature
4. poet who wrote about feelings

• Wrote ‘the Lyrical Ballads’ together with Samuel Taylor Coleridge which officially started the Romantic period in England,
• Wrote dark poetry at first, about social injustice
  
• Was inspired by his immediate surroundings (Lake district) and his childhood.
  
• Spent some years in France, during the French Revolution, and fathered a daughter there.
  
• Married Mary Hutchinson
  
• Had a neurotic sister, Dorothy, for whom he took care until she died
  

Which of the following identifies the theme of the poem?

1. The beauty of nature brings people pleasure.
2. Nature reflects the variety of emotions that humans feel.
3. Humans rarely appreciate the beauty of nature that surrounds them.
4. Nature is the best inspiration for hopeful artists.

Which detail from the text best shows the theme of the poem?

1. “I wandered lonely as a cloud / That floats on high o'er vales and hills,” (Lines 1-2)
2. “A poet could not but be gay, / In such a jocund company:” (Lines 15-16)
3. “I gazed — and gazed — but little thought / What wealth the show to me had brought:” (Lines 17-18)
4. “In vacant or in pensive mood, / They flash upon that inward eye” (Lines 20-21)

For oft, when on my couch I lie / In vacant or in pensive mood, / They flash upon that inward eye ----- What poetic device is 'inward eye'?

1. Sonnet
2. Metaphor
3. Simile
4. Enjambment

How does the poet’s use of sound influence the mood of the poem?

1. The poet uses a predictable rhyme scheme to create a cheerful mood.
2. The poet uses free verse to create a serious mood.
3. The poet uses repetition to develop the feeling that nature is constant.
4. The poet emphasizes the pleasures of nature through alliteration.

Questions

1. In the first line, the poet clearly expresses his loneliness. Explain what metaphor he uses to do so and why it is so aptly chosen.

2. Quote at least three words or phrases in the first two stanzas which also means lots.

3. How often does the verb to dance appear in this poem? Why does the poet use the word so often? What else dances, apart from the flowers?

4. Which two human characteristics does the poet ascribe to the flowers in the poem?

5. The daffodils are also compared with stars. Why does Wordsworth do so? Which words does he use metaphorically in this regard?

6. To what does the word they in line 13 (3rd stanza) refer?

7. Explain the meaning of line 14.

8. Does the poet immediately realise that these beautiful flowers will make a lasting impression on him? Explain your answer.

I wandered lonely as a cloud: answers

• 1. The cloud metaphor. A cloud is usually high up, solitary and detached from the ground (daily life).
• 2. Crowd, host, continuous, never-ending, ten thousand.
  
• 3. Three times. To place emphasis on the movement of the flowers. The waves.
• 4. They are sprightly and comforting.
  
• 5. To express the sense of endlessness. Stars, twinkle, milky way.
• 6. To the daffodils.
  
• 7. While it was a joy to watch the waves dance, the beauty and cheerfulness of
  
• the daffodils was even more pleasing.
  
• 8. No! Lines 17 and 18 state that the poet stared amazed at all their splendour,

but did not realise he would reflect on it later. 

9. Explain the stark difference between the final stanza and the others.

10. To what does the word they in line 21 refer?

Explain line 21 in your own words.

11. What is the meaning of the phrases vacant or pensive mood?

12. What message does the final stanza express?

13. Name at least three characteristics of th Romantic era which are clearly present in this poem.

I wandered lonely as a cloud: answers

• 9. The difference is the flash-back. The final stanza is much later in time than the others. Furthermore, the descriptive aspect of the first three stanzas is replaced by a more observant voice.
• 10. To the flowers. Whenever I daydream or reflect on the past, the daffodils appear in my mind’s eye. In other words, they cheer me up.
• 11. Vacant mood means daydreaming and pensive mood means mournful or melancholy.
• 12. The blessings that nature brings are not only beneficial at the moment one witnesses them, but also in later life.
• 13. The splendour of nature, deeper feelings such as melancholy and joy, and the power of imagination (as expressed in the numerous metaphors used).

It's a beautous evening: Answers .

• 1. On the beach (at Calais, although the poem does not actually say where).
• 2. The evening. The word evening and the phrase the sun is sinking down.
• 3. Holy, Nun, adoration, heaven, eternal.
• 4. They transcend the mundane.
• 5. An evening cannot be free, while a person can. Wordsworth nevertheless applies this combination to indicate that nothing could disrupt this beautiful evening. Free from bad weather, free from cares.
• 6. The peace and quiet that one might experience as a nun, sitting in church praying (for hours on end, without moving!).
• 7. The breakers.
• 8. Peace and quiet, despite the breaker

It's a beautous evening: Answers .

9. The description of nature is replaced by the girl, while the tone of voice

becomes far more personal and emotional.

10. Even though you are not thinking of serious matters, you are nevertheless

close to God.

11. It indicates that an explanation or conclusion is contained in the following line(s).

12. She is very close to God. The phrase Abraham’s bosom appears in the Gospel according to St Luke (xvi, 22, 23) in which it signifies Paradise.

13. We may not know or see it, but God is always carefully watching over us.

14. In order to create a religious impression; even in those days, this sort of

language was only to be found in the Bible.

15. An Italian sonnet. The last two lines do not rhyme. 

We Are Seven Questions

1. Explain what you learn about the little girl from the poem.

2. What point of view does the little girl represent?

3. What doe you know about the I-figure?

4. Why can't the I-figure understand the little girl's point of view?

5. On whose side is Wordsworth? How can you tell?

6. This poem consists of two parts. Where does the second begin? Why do you say so?

7. Which Romantic characteristics does the poem contain?

8. Which stanza is different from the rest of the poem? Why?

9. Which characteristics of a Ballad does the poem contain?

10. Which characteristics from a Medieval Ballad are missing from the poem?

We are Seven: Answers .

• 1. All the information is contained in the first three stanzas:
  
• - simple - lively - not occupied by complicated matters, such as death - lives in a little cottage - is only eight years old -  has thick, curly hair - has a rural appearance - her clothes are rather frumpy - strikingly attractive eyes - in short: a pretty girl

• 2. The girl has not yet been ‘spoiled’ by knowledge and education; her outlook on life is innocent and spontaneous. She lives very close to nature.

• 3. The I figure is an adult, who has lost his or her naive lack of inhibition, and lives a rational life according to reason.

• 4. Because the girl does not behave rationally. He/she doesn’t know how to respond to her way of thinking. His/her rationality insists that his/her way is right.

We are Seven: Answers .

• 5. On the little girl’s side. This is particularly clear in the lyrical manner in which he describes her at the start of the poem. 

• 6. In stanza 4. The first three stanzas are a description, while the remainder consists of dialogue between the girl and the I figure.

• 7. - the substantial role of nature in the poem 
• - the poem is anti-intellectual
  
• - power of imagination, rather than logic
  
• - the use of the English ballad form
  
• - the close association of the lower social classes with nature
  
• - children
  
  

We are Seven: Answers .

8. The final stanza. It comprises five lines instead of the usual four. Wordsworth

does this to emphasise the content of this final stanza.

9. - simple story

- written in 4-line stanzas (apart from the final one). 

- the rhythm of the poem is iambic

- repetition

- the subject of the poem is death

- dialogue form

We are Seven: Answers .

10. - the poem is anonymous

- the poem is not epic

- The use of language is more poetic than that of the common people in the

Middle Ages

- the rhyme scheme is abab, instead of abcb

- no refrain or recurring (closing) line

- superstition and the supernatural feature greatly. However, this remains open

to interpretation! According to the little girl, death is absolutely no reason to

exclude one from participating in daily life.