ONE THOUSAND FAMOUS THINGS 175
One April Day
Wordsworth and his sister Dorothyt walking one April day in the lovely country
round their Lakeland home, came upon a host of daffodils. This is what brother
and sister felt about it} and put into words when they got home,
WHEN we were in the woods above Gowbarrow Park we saw a few
daffodils close by the water-side. We fancied that the sea had
floated the seeds ashore, and that the little colony had so sprung up.
But as we went along there were more and yet more; and at last,
under the boughs of the trees, we saw there was a long belt of them
along the shore.
I never saw daffodils so beautiful. They grew among the moss}''
stones about them. Some rested their heads on the stones, as on a
pillow, for weariness ; the rest tossed and danced, and seemed as if
they verily laughed with the wind that blew over the lake ; they
looked so gay and glancing, ever changing. Dorothy Wordsworth
I WANDERED lonely as a cloud
That floats on high o'er 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 on the Milky Way,
They stretched in never-ending line
Along the margin of a bay :
Ten thousand saw I at a glance.
Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.
The waves beside them danced ; but they
Out-did the sparkling waves in glee :
A poet could not but be gay
In such a jocund company;
I gazed and gazed, but tittle thought
What wealth the show to me had brought:
For oft when on my couch I lie,
In vacant or in pensive mood,
They flash upon that inward eye
Which is the bliss of solitude ;
And then my heart with pleasure fills,
And dances with the daffodils.
William Wordsworth