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Here you might find resources to help you navigate the muddy waters of English. The humble aim of this blog is just to keep you in touch with different types of English and different aspects of the English culture , to increase your curiosity about English through many different fields.

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domingo, 26 de enero de 2014

I wandered lonely as a cloud...


Dorothy Wordsworth when she was going for a walk with her brother wrote the following description. What do you think of it? Is it poetic? Could you find any poetic devices? Read the text and look for them.

The wind was furious... the Lake was rough... 
When we were in the woods beyond Gowbarrow park we saw a few daffodils close to the water side, we fancied that the lake had floated the seeds ashore & that the little colony had so sprung up -- But as we went along there were more & yet more & at last under the boughs of the trees, we saw that there was a long belt of them along the shore, about the breadth of a country turnpike road. I never saw daffodils so beautiful they grew among the mossy stones about & about them, some rested their heads upon these stones as on a pillow for weariness & the rest tossed & reeled & danced & seemed as if they verily laughed with the wind that blew upon them over the Lake, they looked so gay ever glancing ever changing. This wind blew directly over the lake to them. There was here & there a little knot & a few stragglers a few yards higher up but they were so few as not to disturb the simplicity & unity & life of that one busy highway... -- Rain came on, we were wet.



The following poem by William Wordsworth also describes a wonderful landscape. 
Do you see any differences in both descriptions? Which one do you prefer and why?
Can you find any ideas related to Romanticism?

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.

Who were the Romantic poets? They introduced a new type of poetry and freedom of feelings It was a period of personal and political liberty and the intellectual people of the period wanted to break the bonds of the 18th century conventions. All of them show a deep love for nature, passionate and evocative language and an emphasis on the "I" and individualism. 
In the presentations below you have some of the most important Romantic British poets.





17 comentarios:

Unknown dijo...

The main difference between these fragsments are that in the Dorothy Wordsworth's fragment is a poetic narrative and it talks about daffodils (like William Wordsworth's fragment) but it's describes much more the landscape, what is happening on the lake or whats happen with the wind. A clear example of this is when it said: "the wind was furious... the lake was rough". There's also subjective nouns or verbs. Examples: gay,beautiful,glancing, laughed, etc. And some devices like metaphor ("we saw that there was a long belt of them along the shore") or some personifications ("some rested their heads upon these stones [...]). William Wordsworth's fragment is poetry and it's topic is the same as his sister's fragment. In this piece you can find much decives like hiperbole (along the margin of a bay"), simile ("I wondered lonely as a cloud") and personification as well ("the waves beside them danced.."). In my opinion, I think that William Wordsworth's fragment expresses is so much better because you can find more literary figures and in the last stanza expresses a totally different feelings in comparison with the other stanzas; expresses nostalgia and a little bit of sadness, where in the rest of the poem these feelings are not.

BE dijo...

Thanks Mirian. Well-done!!
Some minor grammar mistakes, but in general you compare both texts and show your opinion about them.

Tommy DOX dijo...
Este comentario ha sido eliminado por el autor.
Tommy DOX dijo...

In William Wordsworth's text, which he describes most is his feelings when he saw the daffodills and he uses personifications such as "Tossig their heads in sprightly dance", he also uses metaphors like"A host of golden dafodills(Making reference to the yellow color of that flower)",he uses similes too"I wandered lonely as a cloud"There are also some hiperbatons(Change of the normal order of a text):"What whealth the show to me had brought"and"For oft when on my couch I lie".In this text there is also an hiperbole:"They streched in a never ending line" and he uses the particle I so, this means that the poem has a first person narrator

Dorothy's text is a narration and she doesn't show to us her feelings as much as his brother William. She focuses more on the description of the landscape(The daffodills, the lake...). she also uses similes such as:"there was a long belt of them(making reference to the daffodills)".
In William's poem, at first the feeling the poet has is loneliness, then when he sees the daffodills, he feels really happy and at the end she feels nostalgy of not seeing the daffodills.

Unknown dijo...

The differences between this fragments are that one is a narrative fragments that was written by Dorothy Wordsworth and the other is a poetry fragment that was written by William Wordsworth. The topic of the poems are the same, they describe a landscape. But I think it is more interesting the narrative one, because describe the landscapes with more details than the poetry one. In the narrative one the author, Dorothy Wordsworth, wants to stand out some specific ideas, one example is “…these stones as on a pillow for weariness & the rest tossed & reeled & danced & seemed…”, she used many the symbol “&” to stand out those verbs. In this narrative one is very important to look the verbs and nouns that appear in the fragment. Also she used adjectives to make the fragment more beautiful and to describe the landscape better, with more details. Then, the poetry one have many literature figures. The topic is also the same in this two poems. In the poem is a personification “ The waves beside them danced”, a simile can be “I wondered lonely as a cloud”, an epithet is “Golden daffodils”. A hyperbole is “along the margin of a bay”. And a metaphor is “we saw that there was a long belt of them along the shore”. In my opinion I prefer the narrative one because it easy to understand and express better the topic with more details than the poetry one

Jorge Puig Moreno dijo...

The main differences are that in William Wordsworth's text describes the feelings that senses when saw daffodils and in the other is more a description of the landscape and the daffodils.

In Dorothy Worworth's text use personifications like "The wind was furious...the Lake was rough..."and metaphors like "there was a long belt of them"(daffodils).

In William's text uses some personifications of the daffodils like "Fluttering and dancing in the breeze" or "Tossing their heads in sprightly dance" use too metaphors like "A host, of golden daffodils" because this flowers are yellow. And simile "I wandered lonely as a cloud".

Unknown dijo...

The main difference between this two types of texts is that the one written by Dorothy Wordsworth is poetic narrative and the one written by William Wordsworth is poetry. The text written by Dorothy is a description of a landscape that is full of daffodils and also has a lake, this text focuses more on the description of the landscape than in the expression of his feelings. The text from William expresses the feelings of the author. William uses more literary devices in his text than Dorothy in hers. The text of William also sepaks about daffodils but he doesn´t do a thorough description of its.

Unknown dijo...

The main difference between the two texts is that the one written by Dorothy Wordsworth is narrative, but also it has something to do with poetry, so we can denominate it, poetic narrative, and the one written by William Wordsworth is poetry, specifically, it is a poem. In Dorothy’s text, she is describing a landscape, with a furious wind and also a lake, also here is describing a landscape with another person, her brother, but the most important thing is that she speaks with a great recreation in the daffodils. In William’s text, he is describing his feelings, not the landscape, a curious thing is that in this text, also the daffodils are commented, not as rigorously as in Dorothy ones, but they are commented in both, also, he uses more literary devices than Dorothy, because he is writing a poem and she a poetic narrative.

Unknown dijo...

The main difference between these two fragments is the structure. William’s text is a poem in which he expresses the way that landscape full of daffodils makes him feel and the sensation of nostalgia he experiments when he's not there. Moreover, Dorothy’s text it’s a poetic narrative description about the same landscape, although she doesn’t only focus on the daffodils, but in all the elements that constitute or that she perceives in the field (the wind, the rocks, the lake, the rain…).
On the other hand, there are also some similarities. For instance, in both texts, there are many adjectives, nouns and verbs which are the same (glance, gay, danced…). They have also used the same literary devices like metaphors, personifications, similes… However, William’s poem contains more devices (there are hiperboles, alliterations, onomatopoeias…). Nature it's very important, and almost all the two texts are an imagery. They also coincide in some of the things they describe, that is, the amount of daffodils there where or movement they make because of the wind.
In my opinion, William’s poem is more beautiful because of the way in which it’s written. Also I like the feeling of calm and relax that it transmits. This are some of the reasons why I find this text more attractive than the other; nevertheless, it’s more difficult to understand.

Unknown dijo...

William and Dorothy Wordsworth have a connection through literature.Both have their own way of writing containing few similitaries, but also a differences.Both of them have written a similar text of daffodils next to a lake, after reading both texts you will know that they are writing about the same place but in opposite ways.Dorothy Writes the text in a journaling form like is just a normal day,but she adds a little of fantasy that make it more interesting, William writes with a more poetic way, his literary material is extremely different, he focuses more on poetry not always rhyming.He uses a simil "I wandered lonely as a cloud" comparisons too "Continuous as the stars that shine" and two personifications "Tossing their heads in sprightly dance" and "The waves beside them danced"

Unknown dijo...

Dorothy and William wordsworth saw as a description of a landscape but in two different ways taking the importance of nature like all the romantic author´s.In Dorothy´s description we can saw how he uses a narrative way to express her feelings and to describe the fantastic lanscape (importance of nature) in which she saws like his brother, a lake surrounding by daffodils. On the other hand, William describe the landcape with a more poetic way using a composition of (4 stanzas) with rhyme (ABABCC) which make the poem more intensive and taking the intention of make feel something to the reader. In the two works we can observe some poetic devices (comparisons, metaphors, personifications, similes...) The adjectives take importance in the texts to because of the intention to make people feel a type of nolstalgia and the need to be in these places.In conclusion, I think that William´s poem is more "beautiful" because the feelings that it transmit, (as I said) are more intensive than Dorothy´s poem because of the importance of the rhyme which makes more interesting the poem.

Anónimo dijo...

The differences of these fragments are several, the first is that the fragment of William Wordsworth is a poem, and the fragment of Dorothy Wordsworth is a narrative fragment. The topics of the texts are very similar, both described a landscape with daffodils, the words used, especially adjectives are the same, for example, gay, glance, dance, beautiful ... However, is more detailed the text of Dorothy Wordsworth and this is seen in the first line: "The wind was furious... the Lake was rough... " and also tells us that the landscape described is a lake. In William Wordsworth's poem we can find many literary figures. a simile in the first verse "lonely as a cloud", a personification "The waves beside them danced," this means that the waves are dancing, and also two hyperbole "never-ending line" and "Ten thousand".
And in my opinion it is easier to understand the narrative text, because it gives more details and has more adjectives.

Unknown dijo...

The texts have lot of differences between them. The one from William Wordsworth is a poem where he wants to transmit how he fells, his emotions, his nostalgia, his passion for the nature, the desire of be free. To sum up, William focus more on feelings and no so much in describing the enviroment. On the other hand, the poetic narrative text written by Dorothy Wordsworth is more centered on telling in datails how all the lanscape was, with few daffodils close to the water side... Not all are differences, both of them use a subjetive way for describe the place. Also, both of them incorporate some literary devices like metaphors, simele, personifications...Futhermore, we can find on the texts the repetition of adjectives, nouns and verbs, for example: "gay", "fancied" or "glance". The daffodils are a principal character in both texts,it is truth, that they are more important in William one.
In conclusion, the two compositions are very similar and with a few differences. For me, Dorothy Wordsworth's description is a bit better because she uses many details that you can imagine clearly the landscape.

AprendELE dijo...

In Dorothy´s text, the main difference is that it is a narrative fragment. It describes a landscape as William´s text but with a better precise description about the landscape, the daffodils, the lake...
She uses specific adjetives to make a more beautiful and complex description. She also uses a lot of verbs and nouns that really fit with the theme of the fragment. She use the conjuntion “&” in a very expressive way ( example: “not to disturb the simplicity & unity & life of that one bussy high way.”
A difference from William´s fragment is that he express his feelings while Dorothy don´t.
His fragment is a poetry composition. He is talking about a landscape where the daffodils are the main characters. He express his feelings throug metaphors, personifications... An example of personification: “ Flattering and dancing in the breeze” ( it refers to the daffodils).
Personally, I prefer the poetry fragment, becouse istead of describing only a landscape, it express feelings, like melancholy, sadness... or maybe just the opposite like happiness, excitement, pleausure...

Unknown dijo...

The maind difference i find between these texts is tha in Dorothy's one,we find a narrative structure while in the William's one we fand a poem, where the author express all his felings are. secondly, the text from Dorothy is focused on express his feeling by describing the landscape. What I see about William is the passion he has on natureOn the other hand, Dorothy want to describe the landscape he's seing without expressing his fellings. He also focused on describe how the daffodils are, their lives...As a result, we find many literay resources that express what the author wants to explain. I find more interesting the text from Dorothy because is esaly to understand and she doesn't focused on her feeling while William do it.

BE dijo...
Este comentario ha sido eliminado por el autor.
BE dijo...

well-done you all!!
Your comments are ok. There are some grammar mistakes and problems with the use of pronous. But apart from that some of you have written some nice ideas and the comparison of both texts is ok. You have included good examples of metaphors, similes, personifications and so on.
Paula Rubio, Alvaro, M. LLoret, C.Ruiz and M.Shobajo yours are quite good. Nice suggestions!