19 pages 38 minutes read

William Wordsworth

Daffodils

Nonfiction | Poem | Middle Grade | Published in 1973

A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.

Symbols & Motifs

Stars and Infinity

William Wordsworth revised “Daffodils” in 1815, adding the important second stanza. This stanza adds a quality of vastness to the daffodils, building on the first stanza’s use of descriptions like “crowd” (Line 3) and “host” (Line 4). The daffodils, the speaker notes, are as “continuous as the stars that shine / And twinkle in the milky way” (Lines 7-8). This image suggests that the daffodils exist far beyond where the eye can see, and are layered into space. In Grasmere, their existence on the shore of the bay is finite, but the speaker’s comparisons suggest they are symbolically far more epic, confirmed in the enumeration of “ten thousand” (Line 11) daffodils reaching in a “never-ending line” (Line 9). Further, the image of swaths of flowers compared with stars parallels the key image of the last stanza, the moment when the daffodils “flash upon the inward eye” (Line 21). The idea of the six-pointed petals of the daffodil blooming against the dark space of the imagination is made clearer by the parallel of the bright twinkling stars in the night sky. Wordsworth’s second stanza also enhances the idea that the daffodils can be recollected continuously.

Related Titles

By William Wordsworth

Study Guide

logo

A Complaint

William Wordsworth

A Complaint

William Wordsworth

Plot Summary

logo

A Slumber Did My Spirit Seal

William Wordsworth

A Slumber Did My Spirit Seal

William Wordsworth

Study Guide

logo

Composed upon Westminster Bridge, September 3, 1802

William Wordsworth

Composed upon Westminster Bridge, September 3, 1802

William Wordsworth

Study Guide

logo

I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud

William Wordsworth

I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud

William Wordsworth

Study Guide

logo

Tintern Abbey

William Wordsworth

Lines Composed a Few Miles above Tintern Abbey ...

William Wordsworth

Study Guide

logo

London, 1802

William Wordsworth

London, 1802

William Wordsworth

Plot Summary

logo

Lyrical Ballads

William Wordsworth

Lyrical Ballads

William Wordsworth

Study Guide

logo

My Heart Leaps Up

William Wordsworth

My Heart Leaps Up

William Wordsworth

Study Guide

logo

Ode: Intimations of Immortality from Recollections of Early Childhood

William Wordsworth

Ode: Intimations of Immortality from Recollections of Early Childhood

William Wordsworth

Study Guide

logo

Preface to Lyrical Ballads

William Wordsworth

Preface to Lyrical Ballads

William Wordsworth

Study Guide

logo

She Dwelt Among The Untrodden Ways

William Wordsworth

She Dwelt Among The Untrodden Ways

William Wordsworth

Study Guide

logo

She Was a Phantom of Delight

William Wordsworth

She Was a Phantom of Delight

William Wordsworth

Plot Summary

logo

The Prelude

William Wordsworth

The Prelude

William Wordsworth

Study Guide

logo

The Solitary Reaper

William Wordsworth

The Solitary Reaper

William Wordsworth

Study Guide

logo

The World Is Too Much with Us

William Wordsworth

The World Is Too Much with Us

William Wordsworth

Study Guide

logo

To the Skylark

William Wordsworth

To the Skylark

William Wordsworth

Plot Summary

logo

We Are Seven

William Wordsworth

We Are Seven

William Wordsworth