I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud

“I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud” was written at a time of great uncertainty, both social and political. Factories drew people to the big cities, but the human cost was obvious. A lot of people were poor, hungry, and exploited, and children were forced into labor.

Against this backdrop, Wordworth’s poem seems naïve, even untouched by the reality of the newly industrialized country. But it demonstrates how we depend on the natural world for clean air, freedom of movement, and inspiration.

Like other Romantics writers, Wordsworth revered nature for its beauty and its ability to renew itself. He believed that human beings are sustained by nature, both physically and emotionally. This short lyric poem sets out his thoughts about the importance of nature, which we frequently take for granted.

The choice of the lyric is significant, since this formal yet spontaneous vehicle not only exploited the melodic potential of language; it also allowed the poet to speak freely, enthusiastically, and directly to an assumed reader.

The initial tone of the poem is rather solemn. In the first stanza of the poem, the speaker—who could be the poet himself, as he speaks in the first person—expresses his somewhat melancholy