1. Romantic Poetry
William Wordswroth

2. Romanticism
Romantic poetry designates the poetic products of a group of late18-century and early 19-century poets who glorified nature, imagination, and individuality, and thus, their poetry constituted a revolutionary reaction to the predominant neoclassical norms of composing poetry.
Romanticism grew from a profound change in the way people in the Western world perceived their place and purpose in life. Events such as the American Revolution in1776, the French Revolution in 1789, and the Industrial Revolution restructured society and the way individuals viewed themselves and their relationship to each other and to the social order.
However, romantic movement ripped up with the publication of “Preface to Lyrical Ballad” in 1802 by William Wordsworth, which became later the constitution of romantic poets.
Worshiping nature which leads to spiritual revelation (poetry), glorifying imagination which is a collection of profound feelings, and attributing superiority to the individual are the main principles of the newly emerged movement

3. Romanticism
Romantics called upon people to go back to nature in solitude and lonesomeness, and then the reciprocal harmony between nature and man can be generated.
Nature, for romantics, also was the repertoire of innocence, simplicity, human values, and inspiration. So, harmony was created by approaching nature in awe and wonder, and nature, in turn, would cultivate all the human principles within man.
Romantic poetry was never about the holy quests of kings or their heroic battles and victories. Rather, it celebrated common man and place in which man could enjoy simple life in the bosom of nature.
However, some attached a sense of medievalism to romantics because their nostalgic view of the Middle Ages as a simple, less complicated time not troubled by the complexities and divisive issues of industrialization and urbanization.

4. Romanticism
William Wordsworth’s definition of poetry goes, “Poetry is the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings: it takes its origin from emotion recollected in tranquility.”
Poets: William Wordsworth, John Keats, Samuel Tylor Coleridge, and Percy Bysshe Shelley

5. Characteristics of Romantic Poetry
1- Simple diction drawing portrayals of simple manifestations of nature (common man and place).
2- Subjective poetry replete with emotions and indicative of imaginative experiences.
3- Destroyed and irregular meter since the main concern is reconstructing the poetic experience in verses. So, idea is superior to form for the romantics.
4- Romantic poetry expresses imaginative experiences in the bosom of nature and celebrates the basic simple elements of nature.
5- Sometimes, romantics dedicate their poems to expose the evils of the proclaimed civilization, technological progress, and the transformation of human nature.
6- Excessive use of imagery to describe nature by which the reader would live, imaginatively, the same poetic experience a poet has come across.

6. William Wordsworth
William Wordsworth is the one who laid the foundations for a new literary movement to emerge and flourish, which was dubbed as Romanticism.
He was known as the father and founder of romanticism.
Wordsworth with Samuel Coleridge wrote a book in 1798 comprised of a collection of lyrical poems entitled “Lyrical Ballads” in which they constitutionalized not only revolutionary romantic principles of composing poetry, but also ways to a romanticized lifestyle.
In 1802, William Wordsworth solely wrote “Preface to Lyrical Ballad” to explicitly and straightforwardly define romanticism.
The perception of nature as a Goddess, of imagination as lofty, and of simple man and place as sublime were among his pioneering philosophies.

7. William Wordsworth
The concept of nature according to Wordsworth:
Nature is a Goddess which inspires poetic revelations
Nature is a dynamic living power “ pathetic fallacy”
Natures that gives and takes. It gives man joy, provokes imagination, and sparks inspiration when man approaches nature with awe and wonder in a state of solitude. Thus, the relation between man and nature is reciprocal relation “give and take relationship”
Wild nature is a majestic moral teacher that can cultivate all the human values within man
Man should be in harmony with nature an their relation should end up with a marriage (unity) between man and nature.

8. Daffodils: Text 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.

9. Daffodils Brief Summary and Paraphrasing
While wondering in the bosom of nature, a host of dancing daffodils attract the attention of the speaker. After a while, he realizes that all the components of nature are dancing harmonically. The speaker then joins this harmony, and nature, hereupon, gifts him the bliss of approaching nature, real or imaginative, in lonesomeness and solitude.
Form: Four stanzas with six lines in each
Meter: iambic tetrameter
Themes
Man-Nature Relationship
Harmony between Man and Nature
Nature and Inspiration

10. Daffodils : Language and Style
I wandered lonely as a Cloud
Simile
The perception of nature as a living moving creature
Tossing their heads in sprightly dance
The waves beside them danced; but they
Out-did the sparkling waves in glee
Pathetic Fallacy
I gazed--and gazed-
Repetition
Personification
Continuous as the stars that shine
And twinkle on the milky way,
They stretched in never-ending line
Visual imagery
Anaphora

11. Daffodils: Questions
To what extent do you think that the speaker in this poem is rather reflective than descriptive?
Define primary, secondary imagination, pathetic fallacy, and indicate who these ideas represented in this poem.
What does the capitalization of Lake, Clouds, and Daffodils indicate?
Explain the imagery the poet draws in the second stanza.
What are the romantic features available in Wordsworth’s Daffodils?
Is there any use of heroic couplet in this poem?
Daffodils encapsulates many revolutionary romantic principles. Comment
What are the characteristics of nature expressed in Daffodils?
How does nature contact with the poet as expressed in the last two stanzas?

12. Daffodils: Questions
10. What is the relationship between man and nature according to the poem?
11. Under which type of poetry can this poem be classified?
12. What are the patterns of contrast in this poem?
Lonely and dances
Outside eye and inside eye
13. To what extent do you think this poem may suggest solutions for the Palestinian dilemma?