The daffodil are described in celestial terms, they are explained as “stars that shine” and “twinkle on the milky way”. This could be seen as that his vast loneliness in which he is as “lonely as a cloud”, is now not so vast as there are many stars companying him. Though he may of taken advantage of his fulfilment as he “gazed –and gazed-but little thought”, so he thought nothing of it, yet he was so engrossed with it he includes repetition. He uses the word “wealth” as if it is like a rich person with no limit to their cash flow, so not fully appreciating what he’s got.
In the last stanza it seems that the love Wordsworth encountered is in the past, he is reminiscing. There is a shift in time between the third stanza and the last. The first three are nature based, “cloud” and “golden daffodils”. Where as the last is more materialistic, it is inside his home, “when on my couch I lie”, the comfort of home. In this stanza he is in a “pensive mood”, so he is now in deep thought, unlike in stanza three where he thought nothing of what was happening.
This final stanza includes two lines written by his sister, Dorothy. The poem is inspired by a diary entry of his sister’s in 1802. So these lines may of triggered a memory for Wordsworth, so it is natural they are included. Though the love through out the poem may have been for his sister. The two lines were “they flash upon that inward eye which is the bliss of solitude”. The natural beauty of the daffodils create a moment of epiphany, a moment of joy, that will stay with Wordsworth forever. This moment he can see clearly in his head, “flash upon inward eye”, the moment is permanently in his memory. Yet now in comparison to the first verse he is now content while alone, “bliss of solitude”, he is reflecting on the past which holds good memories for him.
Wordsworth has split his poem into 4 stanzas, each one 6 lines long, with the majority of the lines including 8 syllables. The last line of the first verse, “fluttering and dancing in the breeze” is one of the lines with 9 syllables, it is as if the movement of the flowers almost interrupt the rhythm, as they enter his life. So it follows an iambic tetrameter (8 – 4x2), with it alternating from the first syllable being unstressed, to the next stressed. The rhyme pattern goes A, B, A, B, C, C with all the last words or syllables in each line rhyming in the verse. This creates a smooth following rhythm which can be connected to happiness and love, but yet also loneliness. He uses enjambment at the beginning of each verse, this could be so he can explain each verse in more detail before continuing, and may explain why the first two lines don’t rhyme with their selves. There are several occasions of caesuras, this could just be to keep the poem flowing, while showing a change in subject or making the next point stand more.
The significance of the title “Miracle on St. David’s Day”, is that it suggests that a miracle is going to occur during the poem. Gillian Clarke is a Welsh poet and St. David is Wales patron saint and the Welsh flower is a daffodil. So this suggest that the poem is set on the March 1, and will include daffodils or mention them in some form (Wordsworth – Daffodils).
My first impression of the poem was one of shock, from the pleasant first verse to the next verse, “I am reading poetry to the insane”. To one of sorrow that there are such a range of different people who have been branded insane at this home. Yet it is also one of amazement and surprise, that a man that has not spoken for years is able to speak, as if it was a “miracle”.
I then looked closer at the poem. In the first stanza of the poem Gillian Clarke describes the country house in what seems to be an idyllic setting, “the sun treads the path among cedars and enormous oaks. It might be a country house, guests strolling”. Despite the conversational tone suggesting normality her use of the word ‘might’ alerts the reader. The illusion is swept away by the opening line of the second stanza, “I am reading poetry to the insane”. The finality of the end stopping line and the matter of the fact tone, shocks the reader. The contrast between the descriptive lines of the opening stanza and the flat tone of this line introduce the reader to the contrast between the setting and the ‘guests’. It is as if the first verse is trying to mask the true poem. However, Gillian Clarke is known for beginning her poems with two contrasting ideas.
The “I” suggests the experience is personal, which when I research I found it was. Clarke had gone to an insanity home to try and put some hope, and perhaps brighten up their lives. This shows a mother like figure coming through, in the wanting to help and loo after others.
In the second stanza the first two of the patients at the mental hospital are introduced. One is an insane women who doesn’t understand where she is and utters total nonsense about offering “as many buckets of coal as I(she) needs”. The other is described as a beautiful boy, to find out bluntly at the end that he is a schizophrenic. This relates with the contrasting ideas of natural beauty, with what could be called materialistic repulsiveness, where the mental illness is concerned, especially as it not their fault. It also tells the moral of appearances are deceptive – ‘don’t judge a book by it’s cover’, as the boy is described as almost angelic in the description, yet he is dangerous.
“A cage of first March”, a woman appears to be in a cage, although the day is a day for national celebration. She appears trapped by sunlight shining through the barred windows, which casts a caged shadow over the woman. That the woman is oblivious to her surroundings it makes the caged feeling worse, as the woman seems to have given up. Even the structure of the poem suggest a cage like feeling. All of the verses, apart from the last are all 5 lines long, written in blocks, each line with approximately 9-10 syllables. They are like jail cells, which can’t be escaped, unless a miracle occurs.
The main person in the poem, excluding the narrator(Gillian Clarke) is introduced at the end of stanza 3 – “a big, mild man”. These words usually aren’t associated, such as “huge and mild”, so the man is more of a gentle giant, though there is the suspicion of what he could do. In this case the nature is played against the materialism instead of the other way round. He has been assumed mental as he hasn’t spoken for about 40 years; this is said in verse 7, where it goes over one of his last talking memories – a flash back. In his school, “Valleys”, they had to learn “poetry by rote”, and Wordsworth’s Daffodils must have been one.
The ‘labourer’ finds the poetry soothing as he “hands on his knees, he rocks gently”, this shows he isn’t dangerous and also that some have benefited from the poetry reading. Without warning he is “suddenly standing”, this suggests danger as even thought he is described as “huge and mild”, the poet feels afraid. This implies a lack of understanding. It is then the labourer, who hasn’t spoken for 40 years begins to recite ‘Daffodils’. It is likely that the man could see outside which was “open-mouthed with daffodils”, and that poetry was being read to him reminded him he once loved poetry; it is like an epiphany, similar to Wordsworth that when he saw the daffodils it created a moment of epiphany.
Everything freezes as he recites the poem, even the “daffodils are still as wax….still”, this suggests that even nature is listening to the miracle that has taken place. The miracle has occurred. “Before the applause, we observe the flowers’ silence. A thrush sings”, it is as if nature is congratulating him on his achievement before all life returns. The daffodils in verse 6 are described as “wax”, an unlit candle, then in the last line of the poem they are once again “are flame”, it is as if the candle is lit. This could be seen as a symbol of hope. As well, the last stanza is not a 5 line block like the others, it also has a variety of different number of syllables in each line, so it is also as if the man has now freed himself of the caged mental home.
These poems are both great poems in their own form, but each is different, there is clearly going to be a difference as “Daffodils” is pre-1914, and “Miracle on St. David’s Day” is post-1914. The Wordsworth poem flows better due to it’s meter and rhyme pattern, unlike the Clarke poem which doesn’t really have either, and is block versed. The Daffodils poem concentrates more directly on nature, where as Gillian Clarke focuses on nature more indirectly. Gillian Clarke has wrote her poem more story like, whereas Wordsworth has wrote his poem in a more regular poem style that flows. The daffodils symbol something different in each poem from my point of view, I think the daffodils in Wordsworth’s represents love, and the daffodils in Clarke’s represent achievement and the occurrence of a miracle. Both use personification for the daffodils to express their beauty and what they might represent, but Wordsworth also compares them to other things of natural beauty, but Clarke just expresses their beauty.
I prefer the poem “Miracle on St. David’s Day” by Gillian Clarke. I prefer this one as it is based around an insanity home, a topic which wouldn’t usually be covered by a poem. I also prefer it as a miracle occurs where something bad has been reversed, the labourer has broken free of his silent prison, to once again be free. This is shown in the language, content and the structure of the poem.
These poems use the theme of daffodils to explore human emotion as the poem by Clarke show guilt as they have all been labelled insane, this influences the thoughts of the reader, it makes them feel guilty as they can’t help in anyway but know of their unfortunate problem. This also shows the guilt of Gillian Clarke as this poem was written about her own real life experience, it show her guilt as she doesn’t use any of their names, this distances her away of the people from the insanity home, and so she can think like it may just of been a story. The daffodils stand for the miracle – surprise, in this poem, the delight of what has happened to the labourer. As at the beginning the daffodils are just there, they are described as “open mouthed”, this could resemble the labourer as he may open his mouth, but yet no words came out. When the miracle occurs the daffodils are “still as wax”, this makes the ‘dumb’ man reciting the poem stand out more, as if even nature is listening, but one can almost imagine the man standing still, only his mouth moving while reciting the words. At the end the daffodils “are flame”, they come alive as the man now again has. The daffodils could be like a candle, they are “still as wax”, but the man’s voice is the strike to light them, where they then “are flame”. In Gillian Clarke’s poem they could almost represent the labourer/man, rather than the emotions.
William Wordsworth uses daffodils in his poems mainly to show the emotion of love. It can also show friendliness, happiness and unawareness. I think it shows unawareness as the daffodils are a “jocund company” as they are “dancing in the breeze”, yet “little thought is given”. Daffodils can easily be stood on, squashed and killed, and this may of happened to his love which the daffodils most likely represent, it was squashed and killed as he had not appreciated what he had by thinking nothing of it. The daffodils then become a memory, and although he looks back on the past, the past linked with the daffodils – nature, blissfully he may also look back with regret, as he may seem in “bliss of solitude” but something is now missing, so the daffodils could represent regret and possibly misery. Yet at the same time the first thoughts of love and happiness, as these are remembered in the memory, the regret is the after thought of the memory.
