Both poems “The Daffodils” and “To Daffodils,” have realistic images of nature to portray an apparent mood. In “The Daffodils,” images such as clouds, breeze, waves, and stars suggest a joyful mood. In contrast, “To Daffodils” by Robert Herrick uses images such as, “summer’s rain” and “fair daffodils”, which usually suggests sadness or melancholy. This feeling of melancholy and sadness is consistent throughout the poem. Furthermore, the mood in “To Daffodils” is negative, while the mood in “The Daffodils” is positive.
In both poems, diction affects the mood of the poem. In “The Daffodils,” words such as “fluttering,” “dancing,” “bliss,” and “sprightly” suggest a cheerful, peaceful mood. Therefore, in this poem, the diction creates a positive mood. Then, in “To Daffodils,” the words “haste”, “dying”, and “weeping” create a darker mood and add to the feeling of melancholy and sadness. Moreover, in this poem, the diction creates a negative mood.
While there are some differences between these two poems, there are also some similarities. Both poems compare the daffodils to humans, though not for the same reason. In “The Daffodils” the speaker compares the daffodils to a human dancer. The speaker personifies the flowers as humans dancing and the flowers or dancers represent the beauty of nature. In the first line of the second stanza, the speaker compares the daffodils to “the stars that shine and twinkle on the Milky Way.” The stars also represent the beauty of nature. The last line of the second stanza relates the movement of the daffodils to the “tossing heads” and the “sprightly dance” of a person. Finally, the speaker compares the daffodils to the floating of “sparkling waves.”
Similarly, in Robert Herrick’s poem “To Daffodils,” the speaker compares the short lives of daffodils to those of humans. The poem begins by saying that we weep to see the daffodils going away so quickly. The speaker then asks them to stay “until the day ends with the evening prayer.” Then, the speaker compares the daffodils to humans. He says that both have a very short life – “We have short time to stay, as you/We have as short a spring.” Further, the speaker states that both grow up very fast and go on to die before long. Their life is as short as the “summer’s rain,” which comes for a very short time; and the “pearls of the mornings dew,” which go away and never return.
The contrasting moods that are created in both poems “The Daffodils” and “To Daffodils,” are accomplished through dictions and vivid images that the speaker uses. The use of vivid images of nature and the choice of words shapes the mood of both poems in different ways. In “The Daffodils” the diction and imagery creates a positive mood and in “To Daffodils” a negative mood is created. I think that, in the poems, the use of imagery and diction helps convey an evident mood that can be clearly seen by the reader. Throughout both “The Daffodils” and “To Daffodils,” the speaker uses imagery and diction to construct the mood of the poems.
