In the first line of Wordsworth’s poem, he writes “I wandered lonely as a cloud” which suggests he thinks he can move anywhere and he is free. This reflects the poem’s theme of how nature has an effect on people.
At the end of the stanza, Wordsworth uses personification as he says “fluttering and dancing in the breeze” and this suggests the daffodils have human qualities.
In the next stanza, Wordsworth emphasised the number of daffodils by writing “continuous as the stars that shine.” This quote suggests that the daffodils are never ending. He then talks about the waves in the sea and compares them to the motion of the daffodils by writing “the waves beside them darted, but they out did the sparkling waves in glee…” This quote suggests that he is comparing them and making the daffodils seem more joyful than the waves. He them goes on to write “A poet could not but be gay.” This shows that a poet has to be happy in such an environment and in the next few lines he says “I gazed and gazed but little though what wealth on show to me has brought.” This quote suggests that the writer is trying to say that the sight of the field of daffodils has brought him emotional wealth or in other words a prize. He goes on to say “in vacant or in pensive mood, they flash upon thy naked eye, union is the bliss of solitude, and then my heart with pleasure fills, and dances with the daffodils.” Every time the writer thinks about the daffodils, he is feeling happy and it changes his mood for the better and you could say this is the wealth or prize that seeing the daffodils has brought.
The poem “Miracle on St David’s Day” is about a poet who visits a mental hospital and reads poetry to the insane. The first line of the poem “An afternoon yellow and open mouthed with daffodils,” links to Wordsworth’s poem set in the countryside. The second line of the first stanza “the path treads the sun among cedars and enormous oaks,” also continues the countryside theme.
At the beginning of the second stanza the poet explains that she is reading poetry to the insane, and this shatters the tranquil atmosphere of the first stanza. In the next line Clarke talks about an old woman who interrupts her and offers her as many buckets of coal as she needs”, which is describing one of the mental patients. She then goes on to describe “a beautiful chestnut haired boy who listens entirely absorbed.” This is a suggestion that there is a much deeper meaning to the person, they look normal but underneath they are mentally ill and this is comparable with daffodils in that the field of daffodils look normal but have a deeper pleasure to the poet.
The second line of the third stanza begins by describing a woman who is sitting in a “March sun cage” which is a description of the light passing through the blinds giving the impression she is in a cage. This reflects the state of her mind as she is locked up in her mental state. This is contrast to Wordsworth’s poem where the poem says he wanders freely.
Clarke then goes on to talk about “a large mild, man” who she describes as “big, with labourers hands” who “rocks to the rhythm of the poem”. She mentions that she is reading poetry to “their presences, absences” which could suggest the poet is aware that some of the people she is reading to are mentally “blank” and it as though they are not there.
At the start of the fifth stanza she directs her attention to the labouring man again as she describes him “suddenly standing” and talks about how she feels afraid of him because he could be a danger as he is so large. She then talks about him starting to “suddenly recite Daffodils” which is a further link between the two poems.
The sixth stanza continues to describe this event and the poet writes that the labourer’s voice is “hoarse but word perfect.” All this has a link to the poem “Daffodils” as Gillian Clarke directly talks about daffodils. The poem Wordsworth wrote to celebrate the daffodils then inspires the man to speak for the first time in years.
In the seventh stanza Gillian Clarke describes the mans childhood, she writes “he has remembered there was a music of speech and that once he had something to say.” This shows that he has remembered daffodils and that he could once speak.
The last stanza describes the silence after the man has spoken for the first time in years and the applause from the people of the hospital after it.
The ending to this poem is similar to “Daffodils” in that both poets talk about people remembering things. In “Daffodils” the poet remembers the field full of daffodils and in “Miracle on St David’s Day” it is the large man who remembers how to speak.
Evaluation
I think these two poems share a number of similarities but also a number of differences. This is mainly because “Miracle on St David’s Day’ is practically based on Daffodils.
Overall I feel I have successfully found a number of similarities and differences between these two poems, but I think I could have found more differences rather than similarities.
Luke Jones 11M
