What similarities and differences do you find in the thoughts and feelings conveyed to the reader in Wordsworth's "The Daffodils" and Clarke's "A Miracle on St Davids Day

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Daniel Bethell 10LE

What similarities and differences do you find in the thoughts and feelings conveyed to the reader in Wordsworth’s “The Daffodils” and Clarke’s “A Miracle on St Davids Day

“The Daffodils” by William Wordsworth was written in the eighteenth century. Gillian Clarke wrote “Miracle on St. David’s Day” in the twentieth century, making her a contemporary poet. The obvious comparison between the two poems is their focus on daffodils, but there are many others. For instance they are both based on real, spectacular events, and vivid memories.

They were both also written several years after the event took place. This is perhaps the first instance that the poet realised the incredible, lasting effect that the moment had inflicted on them, and that they could clearly recall the event such a long period of time after. However, as always when comparing two poems, there are clear differences, more in the structure of the poem than the content. There are still differences in the subject and setting. For instance, “Miracle on St. David’s Day” is set in an enclosed, cold setting, with the beauty on the outside rather than inside, whereas The Daffodils is something beautiful happening in the surroundings.

There is a great deal of pride taken in the welsh tradition of learning poetry by heart, shown in such competitions as the Eisteddfod which incidentally is on St. David’s Day.

Wordsworth lived in the eighteenth century and was born in 1770. He was a romantic poet, who saw nature in a romantic way. He tried to teach the reader to appreciate nature and shared with us his intense relationship with nature.

I think that Wordsworth’s inspiration didn’t just come from the experience, but more the lasting effect on his memory, and the feelings that he still felt years after the sight met him.

Clarke’s inspiration I think comes from more than one place. She was obviously moved, as I think many people are by ‘The Daffodils’, and the beauty and depth coming from the man in such a dismal, cold place. I think that she mentions the daffodils because she wants to symbolise the fact that the man has escaped the captivity of his own illness, and like the daffodils outside of the asylum, he realises that there is “a music of speech and he once had something to say”.

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The language in The Daffodils is incredibly descriptive, all the way through the poem, especially when describing the daffodils themselves. It helps create a warm, sunny mood and atmosphere. The poem runs fairly slowly which is created using dashes

“I gazed-and gazed-but little thought”

In stanza one,

“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.”

The mood is set, airy and aimless. We also feel drifting with ...

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