Assalamu alaikum. How are you today? Are you fine?
I think
May I have your attention please?
What are you talking about? It seems like you are
having exam today. Okay, so we don't want to be
very long today. Today's class is going to be like
this. As usual, we're going to listen to a couple
of reports. Then I'm going to ask you about your
response to the poem, The Daffodils. And today we
have some change. We have a student who's going to
present the daffodils. I might interfere. I'm not
sure. It is, you know, up to her. Do you want me
to comment? Okay. I don't want to confuse you. But
if I find difficult to, you know, interfere today,
I might like in a follow-up class give my own
class, okay? So this is what we are going to do
today. Let's see, you know, who's going to report.
Yes, please. The lady there. Yes. Can you come and
report here?
This is the first time you come here? Just come
here, okay. Say good morning. Good morning. It's
Monday, nine o'clock, when Dr. Habib came to the
lecture and began with us the lecture. As usual,
we began with two reports. Then Dr. Habib began
the new born residuals with a single explanation
about romanticism, and he let Ms. Ahlam complete
the explanation about this movement of
romanticism. At that time, she told us about
William, the poet, and his relationship between
him and nature, and how he was in love with
nature. Next lecture, we will continue on this
one. By the way, Ms. Ahlam came to the advanced
writing lecture and attended with us, and all of
the girls were happy for that surprise. Yes, okay,
thank you very much. Still there is a place for a
space for another report. Today I'm like choosing,
you know. Yes, you.
Good morning. Dr. Akram come at nine o'clock. He
began the lecture as usual. He chose some students
to read their report, and he began the
explanation. He introduced the new born, which is
daffodil. Mrs. Ahlam will share, Dr. Habib, in his
explanation. She began the lecture. She welcomed
the student. Then she began the explanation by
introducing what is potry. By introducing what is
potry. Then, yes, who is the poet? And then it
began to explanation the definition of the
romanticism and the elements of romantic period.
Finally, I liked Mrs. Ahlam way in presenting this
information in a simple way. Very good. So thank
you very much. Yes, last time we had a wonderful
introduction about you know, romanticism. And it
was like completing the image we started in
William Blake. Today, I think, you know, Like with
the daffodils, we might have a better
understanding of the abstract things like, because
last time, we talked about abstract things, you
know, like the relation between man and nature,
you know, poetry, the spontaneous overflow,
powerful feelings. You know, we talk about that in
a very abstract way. So today, we are going to see
this hopefully in the poem. But before we start,
like the poem, looking at the poem, I want like,
you to tell me, what do you think of the poem? Who
wrote a response to the poem? Yes, please. Just
this is a written response, then I'll ask, I'll be
asking, you know, you about your oral response.
How are you? Good morning, everybody. The Devils
is one of the most famous poems written by William
Wordsworth, who is a major English romantic poet
and helped to launch the Romantic Age in English
literature. The Devils, how beautiful the title
is. Everyone will like the poem because it is
written brilliantly and it really paints a picture
in the reader's mind. Also, it's easy to read, and
some people might even consider it relaxing. The
poem clearly describes the appearance of the
daffodils and that what's worth encountered in a
stormy day when he walking by his water in England
and especially focusing on the way that the
daffodils look, dancing, and if they are in a
breeze day. The poem reflects the inherent
connection between the man and the nature, which
is so commonly found in William's poetry. The
video discloses the relationship between nature
and human beings, how nature can affect one
emotion and behavior with its emotion and sound.
From the very beginning, the speaker
metaphorically compares himself to the cloud,
creating a sense of isolation from the rest of the
world. He compares between the lonesome feeling of
the speaker with his happy memories or even
experiences with nature. This shows that looking
at the daffodils makes the speaker feel better.
This is indicated by the last line of the poem.
The theme of the poem might be about enjoining the
nature and its elements, or the collection of
human emotions inspired by nature. The poem is
rich of the visual images that used to convey his
appreciation of nature. Talking about figurative
speech, the poem is full of the similes, the
metaphors, and persification. And it also consists
of four stanzas which have got six lines. Okay,
thank you. This is very advanced response. I like
it very much. It's a good response. It seems like
she paid or she exerted tremendous efforts in
reading the poem and writing her response. Good,
what do you think? Do you like the poem? You don't
like it? Is it a good poem? What do you think?
Yes. Exactly, I like the poem because it talks
about
about the beauty of nature as a source of
inspiration and we find that the poet in the first
stanza is having a pessimistic point of view and
he suffers from sadness and grief but in the other
one or in the other or in the last stanza he has
an opposite point of view which is optimistic, he
becomes optimistic Yes, so they want to say like
there is a movement. He started by being lonely
and then he ended by dancing with the daffodils.
So it is very important to know what happened and
how his mood changed. It's very important. What
made his mood change? Was it like because he saw
the daffodils and because the daffodils were
dancing? Or was it beyond this? Because this is
very important. You know, I'm a little bit, you
know, I mean, Concerning the pathetic fallacy, I'm
a little bit reserved about nature being
sympathetic with man, mainly in this poem. It is
more than this. We'll discover that it is not a
pathetic fallacy. It is not a pathetic fallacy or
nature sympathizing with man. It is more than
this. Okay?
Yes, you were talking. Okay. Yes. Thank you.
So you
think The inward eye was the most important thing.
The inward eye was perhaps the strong visionary
tool which made the poet see something different
from the common man. Okay, good. What else? Yes,
Jahan? As we all know, the daffodils is like a
manifestation of the romantic period, because we
took Blake, and Blake was sort of like the pre
-romantic, and it wasn't kind of like manifested
in a very clear way. His speculations in his
writings were still a bit vague in terms of being
romantic or not. So you want to say like here...
With daffodils, we see Wordsworth is actually
Drawing the lines and it's actually making it
clear for what is romanticism the the the the
themes of romanticism, nature, and also poetry,
and tranquility, and solitude, and all these
things. We can see them very clearly in the
Daffodil. Yeah, we can see the characteristics of
romanticism very clear in this poem. Not like
Blake, they were latent, they were hidden. Here we
can see them clearly. Yes? What do you think? They
are the ladies at the back? Do you like the poem?
Were you happy when you read it? Yes?
Has anybody
paid attention to the tenses? Like the tense, I
wandered alone as a cloud, and then it ended with
my heart dances with the daffodils. Has anybody
compared, you know, like the first stanza with the
last stanza? Have you? Have you? Actually, I think
in the first stanza he used the boss tense when he
was pessimistic and very sad. But in the last
stanza, he begins dancing with the daffodils. That
means the beautiful nature, the beauty of nature
changed him from the pessimistic mood to the
optimistic mood. Okay, I know you are going to
answer this. First of all, when he's talking about
the past tense, he's talking about his previous
experience when he was working beneath the
daffodils, beneath the fields of daffodils. Then
after that, when he's talking with the present
tense, he's talking about his recollecting of that
experience while he was writing his poem. So that
suits the tenses in the poem. I don't know, like
the present simpletons is very important, like for
the romantics, you know? If you remember, like,
yeah, yeah, it has to do with permanence, even the
Rime of the Ancient Mariner, which is a story is
told in the present simpletons. So the present
simpletons is a key element in romanticism. You
have to look at that. Good. Any other response?
Okay, we don't want like, yes? No, pardon? To the
poem. Do you have a poetic response to the poem,
Jehan? As usual? No, I mean, was it in poetry?
Okay. You know, Jehan always likes to versify a
response.
Okay, I read this. I wandered lonely between my
books, this exam, that exams, and research hooks,
when all at once I did realize the semester and
the class are sweeping away. Daffodil's
Wordsworth's pen remarked, a manifestation of
romanticism in our books engraved. A revolution it
was for nature they pursued, imagination,
thoughts, and powerful feelings, to the era they
are all supposed to be healings. So, as well, I
recollected my thoughts in tranquility as
Wordsworth stays. Thank you very much. Again, like
she tried to versify this time, but I know like
why she doesn't like it because it seems like she
was very busy, but it's very good. Okay, I think
it's time for Ola to take the floor. She has, you
know, the 30 minutes she asked for and good.
Okay,
good morning everybody. My name is Oana Al
-Mashrykh and I'm here today to introduce to you
the Daffodils by William Wordsworth.
So I will talk about William Wordsworth, then I
will talk about the characteristics of William
Wordsworth, or especially the poetry of William
Wordsworth, then analysis of the poem, then I will
talk about the themes, rhyme and rhythm, figures
of speech, and finally, I will talk about the
characteristics of romanticism applied in this
poem. So William Wordsworth was a major English
romantic poet who with some multilayered colors
wrote that we know of course, helped launch the
Romantic Age. They led the Romantic Age, and
they're the first poets who wrote about the
Romanticism. He wrote, he's the one who wrote the
lyrical ballads, which is the collection, a
collection of poets, of poems written in a
romantic way. The factors that affected his way
and thinking that it's the French Revolution and
also the Industrial Revolution that we were
introduced in the previous lectures. His writings
was, his writing was a movement away from those of
his peers who wrote especially for educated
aristocrats and intellectual elites, that he was
writing for the common people, he was writing for
the ordinary people in a simple way, in simple
words, not like his previous era who were liking,
who liked writing for the elites in a very
complicated way. Then he wrote this poem, I
Wandered Lonely, as a cloud or like some might
call it the daffodils while he was working to
express his experience when he was working in the
place called what? Lake District. It's like a
place of many lakes. in Britain, he was working
with his sister Dorothy while they came across
this field of daffodils. So after two years of
this experience, he managed to write this poem
that inspired him to write this poem after two
years.
Yeah, so he like was inspired by her diaries when
he read them. Yeah, and there's like many lines,
like two lines of this poem was written by his
wife, Mary. Yeah, this experience. And he also
considered these two lines as of the most
beautiful lines in his poem. So he saw this field
of daffodils in 1802 and he wrote this poem after
two years like might be in 1804. So the
characteristics of Wordsworth's poetry was like
balance between mind and emotion. In his poems and
his poetry, he makes balance between mind and
emotion since he considered that poetry is a
combination of reason and imagination. Also that
poetry is an experience. Poetry is an experience
that is aroused in a very simple style themes to
introduce his poems to the ordinary and common
people. A poet is a teacher, but the difference
between the poet and the ordinary teacher that the
poet teaches through the medium of pleasure. So he
has to please his reader in order to teach him.
Yeah, I think you hear why the teaching is by
intuition, not by reason. Yeah. Not by
rationalization. Exactly. Because, you know, in
the ninth classical age, like, poetry was
didactic. They were teaching in a very direct way.
Like, if you look at Alexander's book, first
foreign nature and your judgment
Okay, see what I mean?
Okay, there is human and nature are topics for
romantic poetry. In his poetry, he sees that human
is no more neglected as in the previous eras from
the new classic poets. And also that the nature
also a topic for romantic poetry since nature was
neglected in other periods before him. and that
nature is opposite to the mechanism and to the
corrupted society that was in that, before that
time. Revolution-like. He start to regain the lost
dignity for human and nature. Yeah. Because nature
was abused by the values of the night classic. Man
was abused by the values of the night classic. So
we're talking about a man who was trying to regain
dignity. Then the connection between poet's
feelings and ideas. He believed that to convey his
message to the reader properly, he should connect
between feelings and ideas to express his poetic
experience. And finally, the poet is a creative
person. is creative, not as the ordinary people
that sees everything in an ordinary way. He
considers everything like when he wrote the
daffodils. When we say that the daffodils are like
simple creatures that no one can like give a shit
to them. So the poet himself can consider
everything as an inspiration for him to write
about. It's very good, like the poet is creative
because you know, The poets of the, you know, 18th
century in the United States were imitating
nature. Were imitating nature. You remember
Dryden? You know, art is an imitation. You
remember Alexander Poe? All of them were imitating
for the sake of teaching and delight. Here, like
he's creating, is he creating nature? No. What is
he creating? He's creating like feelings toward
nature. I don't know, like, he might be creating a
new nature, you know, because this is more... Like
visualizing and like, uh-huh, so personifying. Now
I will take you in a very small journey to the
place where Wordsworth found this field of
daffodils in Lake District or Jersme.
We'll travel from our university to that place. To
the dove cottage? Yeah, to the doctor. It doesn't
work.
No, it doesn't work. I don't know why.
It works on my laptop.
Maybe because it's this...
I have a song, this song, it doesn't work here.
Yeah, and I have... You have a song? I have also,
I have also about, I have also. Okay. It's just,
it doesn't work here. No problem. Can you give me
more, like... Start from there, it's the song,
yes? No, it's not the song. It's a journey, then
after it will be the song. Okay, you know, like
imagine that you came to the, like, big district.
I was there myself. Tell me why it doesn't work.
And I had some time to sit on the couch, which is
mentioned in the poem. In fact, the scene is very
captivating. You know, the lake area is a mountain
surrounded by, sorry, it's a lake surrounded by
areas and by a lot of beautiful daffodils around
the bay. So, I mean, the scene was very
fascinating. So, next time I'll be showing them
the scene. You just start the poem, go ahead.
Okay. Because we're running out of time. In the
first stanza... In the first stanza, I wandered
alone... I just want a girl to read this stanza.
Because we have no, like, reader. Who wants to
read? I wandered lonely as a dove. Come on. Come
on, Jihan. Yeah.
I wandered lonely as a cloud that floats on high
over vales and hills. Could you raise your? I
wandered lonely as a cloud that floats on high
over 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 in the milky way. They stretch a never
-ending line along the margin of a bay. Ten
thousand saw I advance, tossing their heads in
spirited dance. The waves beside them danced, but
they outdid the sparkling leaves in glee. A poet
could not but be gay, be but gay. It's the most
difficult line. A poet could not but be gay in
such a joke on company. Company. Yeah, not
company. because you know me right. Yeah. Yeah. I
gazed and gazed, but little thought what wealth
this show to me had brought. For oft when on my
couch I lie in vacant or intensive mood, they
flash upon that inward eye, which is the bliss of
solitude, and then my heart will play the bells
and dances with the daffodils. Yeah, thank you
very much. Yeah, thank you. Like, I think, you
know, you can read it better, you know. I'm not
good at research. No, no, no. Like it should be,
you know, like when you say like, I don't know,
you can bring, I wandered lonely as a cloud, like
this is very, I wandered lonely as a cloud that's
close over the vales and hills.
You all hear it? Because the poet started to
interact with nature. You guys see what I mean?
Good.
So in this stanza, the poet expresses his life
experience with his sister while they were walking
beneath the fields, and they came across this
field of daffodils. These fields of daffodils were
like a huge field.
And the first, from the first, from the very
beginning of this stanza, he was like, he was like
a lonely, lonely as a cloud. And this, that it
loots on, that it loots on high over vales and
hills, when all at once I saw a crowd, a host of
golden daffodils. So it might be like a
description for the field of daffodils, that it's
like golden daffodils, the yellow color of the
flowers. beside the lake beneath the trees, that
all these daffodils along the shore of the lake
were stretches because of the huge number of them,
fluttering and dancing in the breeze, like they
were dancing and fluttering in a very cheerful
way, that they were very happy because of the
nature. So they... The parent might mean in this
stanza that he wants us to express the disconnect
and the dispassionate way that we all live in our
lives. That we have like no aim in our life. We
are aimless people. So the nature is like an
inspiration for us. So we are like away from the
nature. Yeah, this sounds like you know he's a
pantheist yeah I don't think he was a pantheist
but this shows like how now here he's celebrating
nature yes he's wandering and you know why he was
wandering like wandering here he was wandering
lonely it means he was suffering from loneliness
yes and we like in the previous lecture we
understood that loneliness was as a As a result of
all the abuses of the classical age, the
industrial revolution, man was rejected because
man lost his dignity. But you know, you see he's
celebrating nature here. I like the way when you
say nature is huge. There is a celebration of
nature. How nature is distinguished here? Why is
he celebrating nature here? Like look here, if you
look, it is a crowd and then it becomes a host. So
look. The way he gradually, you know, starts to
perceive nature. He is not static. You know, he
was lonely. He saw a crowd and the crowd
contradicts with lonely. Then this crowd is a
host. And you know what a host has all the
positive connotation. A host means hospitality. A
host means love, respect, you know, all of this
compassion. And then beside, as she said, they are
huge. beneath the trees, fluttering and dancing in
the breeze. You see? They are everywhere. Like
they are, you know, ample. You must be ample? A
lot. So he celebrates the vastness of nature.
Nature is very vast. Nature is huge. Nature is not
a little thing. Nature is not just small animals.
Nature is more than this, okay? And so regarding
the word lonely as a cloud, as like most people
are floating on the miles above the nature, miles
above the real nature, and they like missing a lot
of things, like they are missing the quiet virtues
of nature, of the beauty, and of many
characteristics of, or of many sources of
emotional and spiritual nourishment. So when
people are away of the nature, they are missing a
lot of things, like he said. And this stands, it's
like all it's about like description or
description, especially description of the field
of the daffodils, that it's continuous as the
stars that shine and twinkle on the Milky Way. We
know that the Milky Way is the name of our galaxy,
that we live in. So he's like comparing the
daffodils with the stars, that he's comparing the
daffodils procession with the eternity of the
stars, that he is also making, that he also
creating a link between the daffodils and the
stars, or he's like creating a link between the
nature and the universe. So this
In a phenomenon. It is not only an earthly
phenomenon, okay? They structured a never-ending
line along the margin of a bay. Ten thousand saw
Ayatollahs tossing their heads in sparsely dance.
So here like he's expressing the number of the
daffodils like they are never-ending line. There's
a huge number of daffodils in this field.
And that's why, you know, so it should be written
this way. They snatched it. Along the margin of
the daily. And then, 10,000. So I. So I, what did
I say? So I. Anastrophe. I don't know why. What
are you doing? I'm just like wanting to do
something. So I. So I. So I. Yeah, I know, but
why? Why is this converging? Forget about what
anyone would like to do. Ten thousand
saw I at a glance to sink their heads in a
sprightly dance. I like the IMG, I like the
tossing. It's like humanizing the daffodils, like
they are like human beings that are dancing and
like tossing their heads. So it's like visualizing
the experience, like he is like the reader to
share his experience with him and to imagine the
whole experience, the whole field of daffodils and
why the poet decided to write about this field.
The waves beside them dance, but they outdid the
sparkling waves in glee. A poet could not but be
gay. Like he's comparing between the troubling,
the rumbling waves that are sparkling beside the
field of daffodils and then And then that he is
saying that the field of daffodils outdo like he,
the daffodils defeated the rebelling waves in
their like movement and dancing. So that this
field of daffodils is like more amazing than
anything in this nature. And then a poet could not
but be gay in such a joking company. And at that
time of that experience before two years, He was
like, he was of course cheerful and like gleeful,
but to not that extent that he like was while he
was writing his poem. Like he was very cheerful,
but he didn't appreciate the nature. But after two
years, he didn't appreciate the scene before him
while he was working with his sister. And after
two years, he appreciated this scene more and more
and started to write this scene in his poetry. Can
I ask a question? Why did he say a man could not
but be just gay? Why did he say a poet in
particular? Can I answer? Okay, yes. Because an
ordinary man cannot notice this cheerful or
playful field of daffodils like the poet. The poet
is very sensitive that he can notice anything in
nature and he can be like touched. But we can
notice everything in nature as well. But we cannot
be touched. Why a poet could not but be just gay?
Because he's more sensitive than ordinary people.
Okay. More sensitive than you. He's more
sensitive. He has a higher sensation. Teacher,
like, the daffodils cannot touch our hearts like
this, in this way. No, they can touch, you know.
No. You see the daffodils, oh my God, they're
loving you, they like you. There are many
daffodils in the street and we never give like a
glance to them. Yeah. But there's like the boat,
it's very sensitive, he likes it a lot. We might
sometimes, we have. We don't have that. Like
little, like. No, we don't have that. We have, why
not? No, no, no, we don't. It's very ordinary,
like flower. You know, what are the levels? They
are, we don't have these flowers that we can think
of. It depends on the sphere. It depends on the
sphere. He means about, especially about romantic
feeling. That he feel the atmosphere around him,
he should be happy in this aspect of the sphere.
Yes, in fact, like, why would a housewife be happy
in the kitchen? Because when she has all the
ingredients for cooking, she would be happy. You
know? Here, like a poet is having all the elements
of creativity. Of creativity. Like he can, you
know, create now. Why? Because he has everything
in front of him. A poet could not but be gay,
could not but, you know, but be gay, like accept.
He has nothing to do except being happy. Why?
Because this is his chance, this is his
opportunity to create. Okay? Okay. I gazed and
gazed but little thought what wealth to show to me
had brought he's just like wondering how like this
amazing field has like touched his heart and
touches emotions by uh so and after that we have
this fourth stanza for off twin on my couch I lie
so this is like uh and recollecting of his
emotions. The first three stanzas was about his
experience in the past and the first stanza he was
recollecting when he was studying the definition
of poetry by William Wordsworth that poetry is a
spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings
recollected in tranquility. So here he applies
this definition in his poem, like when he was in
tranquility on his couch, on his couch with a
pensive and vacant and relaxed mood, he
recollected all that experience that happened
before two years and he started writing about this
experience in his poetry that flashed upon that
inward eye, that it flashed in the poet himself,
in the memory of the poet, which is a bliss of
solitude. So this recollecting and writing is a
bliss of solitude. Because he was alone with
himself on his couch, lying on his couch, he
started remembering and recollecting that
experience. And then my heart with pleasure fills
and dances with the daffodil. So when he was
retrieving a memory of that experience, He felt
very happy, he felt cheerful, delightful, gleeful,
because at that time, he was dancing with the
daffodils. So the experience started, so that
experience that happened before two years remains
with the poet after two years. And he also
remembered that life, it was happening at this
time. It's a replica of the same image, but this
is the question. Like the image of the daffodils
he stored in his mind. Yeah. Now when they flash,
was it the same image or was it a reconstructed
image in his mind? It was a reconstructed image.
It was a reconstructed image. Yeah, for sure. It
was a reconstructed image saved in his mind. More
amazing also. So when he sits in a pensive, you
know, or vacant like pool, they just like come
like this. Yeah, flashing. And he's happy again.
Look how nature is valuable. But nature is not on
its own. Nature, you know, with the bliss of
solitude, which is what? What is the bliss of
solitude here? It is the inward I. It is the
inward I, which is the bliss of solitude. What is
the inward I? It is the imagination. It is the
memory. the poetic imagination, the inward I. It
is this powerful faculty which succeeded in
reconstructing, you know, the whole experience and
stored it in the poet's mind. So this is a
valuable experience man can again dance with
nature, you know, behave with nature. Now
regarding the theme, it might be about the value
of nature, that there are many considered themes,
but I will focus on this theme, the value of
nature. We for sure know that beauty is like a
simple creature, it's like a simple creature that
gives pleasures to anyone. So also the beauty of
nature that everyone can also can always like feel
in this heart and can always carry in this heart
for for like many years. And so when Hertzworth
like came across this field of daffodils, he felt
pleased. And he felt excited. And he felt that
he's like a part of the nature, like he's dancing
with the daffodils in the breeze. So when the
scene flashed back in his mind or his memory, he
also felt that he's dancing in the same way that
the daffodils were dancing before two years. He
started to feel that he's a part of nature. So he
started fluttering, dancing in a very cheerful
way. So simple pleasures can cure a lonely heart,
can make one happy. Sometimes you just have to
look around, slow down. Don't be too catch up with
the pace of the busy. Simple pleasurable
experience. Don't be worrying about every trivial
thing in your world. Just be relaxed and consider
everything happy in your world. Is man rich? How
is man rich? by nature by nature by this happy
feeling this is power this is you know potential
which is like a potential of creativity man can
create man is positive man is not you know like a
machine or you know man has the initiative has the
imagination man is dignified so like here in this
poem you can say it's about man's dignity because
of his power of imagination i'll talk about okay i
know like you won't be able so we can leave this i
will just watch next time okay yeah next time you
just leave it and i can also organize the other
missing things yes okay okay thank you i can like
explain it next time thank you very much for uh
listening thank you hola i know it was uh you know
a wonderful job thank you you tried uh like to do
your best to capture the spirit of the poem. I
know you wanted us to listen to the song, but next
time I will arrange the song very well. Next time
we're continuing explaining the devils, you know,
I'll be like taking part. And next week we'll
continue, I think with Victoria, you know. Thank
you very much.