Vincent: Not Wandering Lonely As A Cloud

Vincent Willem van Gogh, Dutch, 1853 ‑ 1890. Oil on canvas, 19 1/2 x 39 1/4 inches (49.5 x 99.7 cm). Cincinnati Art Museum, Bequest of Mary E. Johnston

My first daffodil this year.

Daffodils are starting to blossom in my part of the world, and always remind me of Wordsworth's famous poem, 'Daffodils,' also called, 'I Wandered Lonely As A Cloud.' It is the narrative of an introspective poet taking a countryside hike and as he walks over a slight hill, encounters the serendipity of thousands of daffodils.

Vincent illustrates a similar encounter with a couple. Love the warmth of Van Gogh.

I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud

 

By William Wordsworth

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. 

Check out the excellent resource that is the Poetry Foundation-- and maybe introduce a 'Poem of the Week,'  which is the quickest way to get to the top Bloom's Taxonomy.