Beautiful Nature, Beautiful Love

William Wordsworth, the poet, communicates his opinion of love in his poem by using common subjects such as the wind, stars, and flowers. The purpose of Wordsworth is to share his thoughts of love and emptiness with the readers. He adopts an optimistic tone in order to emphasize his opinion on love. He utilizes literary devices and the structure to communicate the idea that love can prevent you from ever being lonely. 

To begin with, literary devices such as similes, personification, imagination, and rhymes are applied in this poem. A simile was used in the first line of stanza one and two that alluded to the wind and stars. For instance, “I wandered lonely as a cloud” (Wordsworth,1) states the problem that a person without love would feel very lonely. Also, “Continuous as the stars that shine” (7) supplements the solution that love is optimistic and lasts forever. Furthermore, the usage of personification in the poem such as “They stretched in never-ending line” (9) personifies the stars which describe their love. This implies the meaning of love by using fewer abstract words and explanations. Moreover, in line 24, imagination was utilized to emphasize the positive and happy emotion coming from love. Wordsworth used rhymes throughout the entire poem. The rhyme schema is ABABCC except for the third stanza which is ABAACC. The rhyming amplifies the tension and tone of the poem and helps give the poem a dramatic feeling. The word choices that the poet made were generally positive and optimistic words such as dancing, shine, bliss, and pleasure. These positive and repetitive words communicate the happy mood Wordsworth wanted to communicate. Hence, the poetic devices that are used in the poem, I Wandered Lonely as Cloud, communicated Wordsworth’s happy tone.  

On top of that, the main structure of the poem helps to analyze the thoughts of the poet. The poem begins with the negative feelings of the lack of love. The description of the situation in the first stanza is calm and floating on the air to express the empty emotions without love. In the second stanza, the main subject shifts from the wind to the consistent stars. The description of stars is the constitution of the concept of love: shiny, ever-lasting, and able to go through all of us. In addition, the wave and its description in the third stanza also complements the idea of perfect love. Lastly, hypertension and mood move into the calmness and quiet happiness when a person is alone. Even though the mood of the first stanza and last stanza are similar, the tone is different. The first stanza had the feeling of loneliness; in contrast, the last stanza had the memory of love. Thus, the structure of the poem clarifies the message of the poet. 

In a nutshell, the poet reveals his thoughts about being loved with his usage of literary devices and tension change in stanzas. Love is a very abstract concept and it was controversial for a long time; this poem indicates that love is necessary, and it can change person’s life. 

“I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud”. Poetry Foundation, https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/45521/i-wandered-lonely-as-a-cloud.2019. March 25, 2019