The Celestial nature of the human in Wordsworth

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 “Continuous as the stars that shine

And twinkle on the milky way,”

The Celestial nature of the human in Wordsworth.

Nefertari Vázquez Gómez

The poem “I wandered lonely as a cloud” by William Wordsworth reflects upon the celestial condition of nature and humans throughout the poem. The poetic voice uses several rhetorical resources to translate that idea into a poem. One example of the resources used for that purpose are verses 7 and 8.

The first resource that can be noticed in verse 7 is direct comparison. The voice uses the adverb “as”, this adverb is used in comparisons to refer to the degree of something. (English) Direct comparison is used in other verses of the poem. In verses 1 and 7, in which direct comparison is used, both sentences are comparing something to a celestial body. For example, in verse 1 the poetic voice compares itself to a cloud, and verse number 7 compares the daffodils to the stars. The use of celestial bodies such as clouds and stars makes the reader think of heaven; The word heaven means “place where God dwells” and originally signified “Sky firmament”. The association of the sky to heaven can also be found in the “Divine Comedy” by Dante where he ascends to Beatriz.

The second resource derived from the direct comparison is propositional logic. If we were to consider verse 1 and 7 as premises: If I am like a cloud and clouds are in the sky, therefore I am in the sky. If heaven is in the sky and I am in the sky, therefore I am in heaven. In this way verse 1 shows the celestial condition of human nature. In verse 7 happens something similar: Daffodils are like stars. Stars are in the sky. Therefore, Daffodils are in the sky. Heaven is in the sky. Daffodils are in the sky. Therefore, Daffodils are in heaven. Nature represented in daffodils and humans represented in the poetic voice are both in heaven.

On the other hand, this poem is a very good example of Modernism. Modernism has its origins in the Industrial Revolution, Modernism also reflects on nature because of human activity derived from industrialization. In the case of the poem, Nature is represented using plurals and humans are represented using singular, as if nature could overpower humanity. 

Finally, verses 7 and 8 represent nature as a new kind of heaven. As something endless, non perishable such as the stars and turns what used to be a distant heaven into something close to humanity. The similarities between nature and humanity appear in other verses of the poem in the form of personification, which will contribute to close the comparison presented at the beginning of this essay.


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