From Prose to Poetry, From Dorothy to William. When William Wordsworth and his sister, Dorothy Wordsworth, took a walk into the

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1 Chen 1 Chen, Vanessa M. Professor J. Wilner English March 2014 From Prose to Poetry, From Dorothy to William When William Wordsworth and his sister, Dorothy Wordsworth, took a walk into the woods of Gowbarrow Park one April day, they were not expecting to come across the subject that would bring about the defining moment in William's literary saga. Though posthumously, the walk inspired a poem that would come to be established as a classic in English literature. Located in the Lake District, where William Wordsworth was based, Gowbarrow Park, historically known as a medieval hunting park, had since become an unpretentious place for rest with a lake that further along, led to hillside waterfalls. It was right by the lakeshore where they discovered an unusual sight of beauty not anything the park had been formerly popularized for, but a lush yet simple display of daffodils. Tying together that visit to Gowbarrow Park are accounts from both William and Dorothy, with William's account in the form of a classic poem heavy inspired by his younger sister. This type of communication occurred often between them, William writing poems inspired on a number of occasions by entries from his sister's journal, a journal begun in order to give him "pleasure by it" (D. Wordsworth 1). William alluded to such an intellectual exchange with Dorothy in a poem written the year prior, sharing with readers that "She gave me eyes, she gave me ears" ("The Sparrow's Nest," 17). The relationship between William and Dorothy had always been very close; they were more than siblings, they were the best of friends. It is because of that very close connection that gives such extraordinary insight into the similar yet different ways of thinking that dominates the writings of both persons, each

2 Chen 2 often relying on the other for perspective. When comparing Dorothy's journal entry of the scene from visiting the park on April 15th, 1802 in The Grasmere and Alfoxden Journals with William's twenty-four-line lyric poem, "I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud," there are singular qualities of these two accounts in both forms of literature that can be appreciated for what they are different people viewing the same subject with different perspectives, using different forms of literature. Ultimately, it goes back to reveal the necessity of Dorothy's point of view in William's feat with this poem. The entry from April 15th 1802 is only the most prime example of Dorothy's voice and style of writing that was so distinctively suitable as muse for William, being perceptive yet subtle enough to allow him to create his own story while simultaneously adding onto the one she had begun to tell. Writing in prose form within her journal, Dorothy lends a very particular eye to the scene of the daffodils that can be appreciated for inspiring and contextualizing William's famous poem, as well as for her original voice and writing style. Reading through The Grasmere and Alfoxden Journals, a number of peculiarities about Dorothy's writing becomes apparent. For one, she uses grammatical mistakes that might initially put readers off until they come to understand the charm behind her lexis, even with it being abound with spelling and punctuation errors. Furthermore, the sentence run-ons naturally employed by Dorothy parallel William's use of enjambments within his poem. Secondly, her journal entries entail very little introspection and subjectivity within them, but are abound with blow-by-blow observations. There is also something raw and remarkable in her attention to detail and exhaustive memory of things in nature "the birches here and there greenish but there is yet more of purple to be seen on the Twigs" and it is perhaps because of this very gift of hers that William is able to draw on her memory of various occurrences (D. Wordsworth 85). Thirdly, it is in her ability to see the beauty in the simplest of

3 Chen 3 objects that people normally overlook, thus bringing great value to her perspective for William. This is proven through her precise focus on the simple colony of daffodils in a park known rather for its impressive waterfalls just a trek away. Lastly, there is a childlike simplicity to the way she writes, and the lenses with which she views the world carry the very same qualities. Her run-on sentences give off an impression as if they were being told all in one breath from a younger girl who was too excited about her story to take more breaths and pause more often while telling it. This playful voice of hers is prime in sentences about the daffodils as they "tossed & reeled & danced & seemed as if they verily laughed with the wind;" even her metaphors about daffodils "rest[ing] their heads upon these stones as on a pillow for weariness" exhibit her innocent, childlike worldview (D. Wordsworth 85). Indeed, there is something spectacular about the way Dorothy Wordsworth writes, but particularly in the way it influenced her brother. However, reminders of why William s poem is an original, literary classic thrive in the world he creates from Dorothy s account. For one, he depicts the daffodils as taking active roles in planting themselves within the human mind; while Dorothy focuses on painting a picture of the scene, William adds more emotional depth to his poem when regarding all subjects of nature. He creates a sense of renewed peace in his poem, felt after experiencing the presence of nature or being in it, which resonates with the reader and narrator in the last stanza when he reminiscences about the daffodils while resting (19-24). Although the narrator was initially as "lonely as a Cloud" while wandering around in the first stanza, after the daffodils imprint their image into his "inward eye" the narrator becoming the object of such action in line eleven when "Ten thousand saw I at a glance" he finds a renewed bliss in solitude from the scene that continues to be with him in lonesome rest (1, my emphasis 11, 21-22). This in turns echoes Dorothy's line "We rested again & again" after taking in the scene of the beautiful daffodils (85). Another

4 Chen 4 technique that William uses to humanize nature in his poem is done by taking Dorothy's journal entry and reversing the situation between the human subjects and the daffodils. In Dorothy's narrative, she and William are the ones who are underneath the trees from where they view the far-off daffodils: "and at last under the boughs of the trees, we saw that there was a long belt of them along the shore" (D. Wordsworth 85). Conversely, in line five of William's poem, the daffodils are the ones he places "beneath the trees," reversing his and Dorothy's place with that of the daffodils, thus humanizing the flowers by putting them in their place instead (5). Ultimately, though William s poem is clearly an individualistic enlargement on Dorothy's account of the scene, the lingering presence of her writing's influence on his work can hardly be unfelt by readers. The average adult surely would not ascribe body language to flowers, but both Dorothy and William do, heavily personifying the daffodils in their writing. William even takes up a few of the same words Dorothy uses, primarily in describing the daffodils dancing, tossing, and laughing. It is all by the inspiration of Dorothy's austere, childlike way of writing that brings about the intense humanization and personification of the daffodils in William's poem. In Preface to Lyrical Ballads, published in the same year as the poem, William Wordsworth had expressed his beliefs that poetry should follow more closely to the language of prose. He wrote about proposing to himself "to imitate, and, as far as is possible, to adopt the very language of men" in order to hone a more natural way of writing closer to how people speak in everyday conversations (Wordsworth and Coleridge 100). Such an acknowledgment brings greater meaning to Dorothy's journal entries when they are understood as William s easily accessible references of prose for him to draw inspiration from by virtue of Dorothy's dedication to writing in her journal on a daily basis, on top of her care in relating descriptive details, she had in practice more experience with prose than William did. But however different

5 Chen 5 their forms of writing may be, their views of nature are undeniably alike. In Dorothy's narrative, only upon close reading does it appear that she is not alone until the very moment she observes the daffodils; hidden like a precious gem, the slight detail reveals that she was so very affected by nature as to have a moment of oneness with it that she mentally tuned out all others whom were physically there with her. The oneness is reflected in William s poem, used as an element of British Romantic poetry. Dorothy s subtlety in her account of the scene illustrates on a grand scale the significance that her writing had on seamlessly influencing William's work without completely coloring it, in turn, making their siblinghood a match made in literary heaven.

6 Chen 6 Works Cited Wordsworth, Dorothy. The Grasmere and Alfoxden Journals. New York: Oxford University Press Inc., , Print. Wordsworth and Coleridge. "Preface to Lyrical Ballads." Lyrical Ballads. Oxford: Oxford University Press, Print. Wordsworth, William. "The Sparrow's Nest." Poems About Places - Poetry Atlas. Tam Tam Media, Web. 17 Jan <

I WANDERED LONELY AS A CLOUD

Activity Sheets (Read the poem below) By William Wordsworth I WANDERED LONELY AS A CLOUD 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