Today I am commenting on one of the poems we read in class last week, as I particularly enjoyed it. Our Nature Center trip was cancelled due to inclement weather, and so to make up for it, we all gathered to share our worst rain experiences and read poems.
One poem was “Daffodils” by William Wordsworth. I had heard the phrase “I wandered lonely as a cloud” before, but I had never studied the lines closely before. Reading them this time, I realized they resonated with me in that the poem describes how I have often felt when in nature. At first the poem seems rather melancholy because the speaker muses about how he is lonely as a wispy cloud of air in the sky. But then he notices a “host” of golden daffodils and stops for a moment to take in their gaiety. This memory then stays with the speaker and brings him joy. Nature can have a lot of different effects on the viewer. We discussed this poem as being related to the Romantic tradition, which characterizes its literature in part as observations of man in nature. Wordsworth’s poem is interesting to me because I feel as though in my studies, Romantic literature has often portrayed man as being small and insignificant in the grand scale of nature and nature as being overwhelming, powerful, and incomprehensible. In other words, I am accustomed to understanding “Romantic” as “sublime.” This poem however, shows the speaker completely content in and fulfilled by nature. Rather than minimized, he is rejuvenated. Nature brings him peace in presenting a scene of pure existence which he can absorb. It shows that one of the beauties of nature is its common accessibility. Even those living in a city can look up and watch the clouds flowing above in the breeze, or enjoy a little butterfly flit by on the sidewalk. Those in smaller urban or rural settings have even easier access to nature-parks, trails, lakes. While the grandeur of nature certainly impresses on you, and it is good to be reminded of such forces and of man’s futility from time to time, that is not necessary, nor does it absolutely constitute, having an impactful nature experience. For the most special experience nature brings us is simple, living joy. Its vitality helps us to feel our own, whether we realize it or not. This poem reminds us that we do not always realize this joy until we are feeling sad or alone and walk about searching for something to reassure us. Interaction with nature brings us simple reminders of the life and vibrancy in which we share.
Additionally, as an introvert myself, I felt this poem remind me that it is okay and good to be alone sometimes. The speaker notes the “bliss of solitude” in which he reminisces on the life that the daffodils recalled into him. Being alone brings an individual back into his or her self, and I do my recharging by doing things alone sometimes. I also think that being alone is a sort of art that can be hard to find in the age of social media, which pressures us all to document our lives in relation to those of others. It is important to be able to enjoy a solitary experience without feeling like you are missing something because someone else is not with you. We are naturally social creatures, and so it is easy to forget that our best and most important companion is ourselves. Rewarding experiences come out of those that are not tainted or distracted by another person. To experience a movie, a baseball game, or a field of daffodils alone can all allow us to interact with the experience while having a conversation with ourselves. This allows us to discover what we think, enjoy something for no reason other than we want to, explore the radical feeling of our own existence here being valid and enough. I think the key here is that, although we are alone in this experience, we are connecting to something outside of ourselves. We recognize something of ourselves in what we are experiencing. This relationship then anchors us into our being. Solitude is not always a happy feeling. But I think that using it to center back into yourself through experiences can lead to special personal growth and development. Our lives are a balancing beam of solitude and sociality that people like me never quite feel comfortable on. But Wordsworth shows that as for solitude, one can be alone and still participate in the conversation of living. For Wordsworth, for many, and often for me, that experience is a connection with nature. I think “Daffodils” tells us that one finds true healing by relishing what emerges here, when we are alone.
This is a really thoughtful, insightful response to Wordsworth's poem. Thanks so much for taking the time to reflect on it. There is a part of Romanticism that does see human life as a small part of a sublime nature, but not an insignificant part. But a more relevant part of Romanticism is the belief that nature heals. Civilization and cities are viewed as corrupting human nature, and only by returning to nature, even for just a short walk, we can be soothed and comforted. As you wrote above, a connection with nature. Thanks for this good post.
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