My Favourite Poem and My Favourite Flower

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.

--William Wordsworth, 1804


I stumbled across the above poem when I was an elementary school girl. It was quoted in some juvenile fiction book I was reading. As I read the poem, it gripped me with such a strong visual image that I instantly fell in love, both with the poem, and with the flower. Daffodils instantly became my favourite flower as I envisioned myself standing in a vast field of them, nothing else in sight except a tall tree, a beautiful lake, and a blue, cloud strewn sky. I was transported to the English Lake District through Wordsworth's beautiful iambic tetrameter, though I knew neither what the Lake District or iambic tetrameter was.

Being only 10 years of age or so, I didn't realize that it was an incredibly famous poem. Nor did I know to note who the poet was. I returned the book to the library. I forgot the book. But I did not forget the poem or the image it had given me.

Years passed, and I searched for the poem. I of course wasn't bright enough to just ask my mother, who would likely have known, where to find a poem about daffodils. Google search was not available to me then, either. So I would spend time in the library's poetry section, or among the poetry shelves of a local bookshop, and scan poetry book after poetry book, searching for my poem.

When I finally found it, I committed it to memory on the spot, so I'd never lose it again. I also learned the name of the poet, in case I ever forgot the beautiful lines.

To this day, I love this poem. I love the memory I have of the first time I read it. I love daffodils. And I know that if I ever actually visited the Lake District, that I would love it to. In honor of Mr. Wordsworth and the love of daffodils he inspired in me, I planted a strip of daffodils along my front walk last fall. Two days ago, the first of them opened. I'm so glad that Spring is here.