I did the poetry survey last spring, and then started with great gusto to post one poem per weekday in chronological order of the most popular 100 poems in the survey. At some point I lost momentum, got lazy, and neglected my and your poetic education. Now I’m back with a more humble goal of posting one poem from the survey per week for Poetry Friday.

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 leaves in glee;
A poet could not be but gay,
In such a jocund company!
I gazed—and gazed—but little 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.

Wordsworth has never been my favorite poet, and the idea of “dances with the daffodils” makes me smirk. Does that make me a bad person?

I don’t know where my sense of appreciation for this poem got lost, but the poem itself tied for second place in number of votes in the survey. So here’s to all the Daffodil Dancers! May your tribe increase!

The Daffodil Rescue Squad by Michelle Hanson

I am rather fond of sunflowers.

Poetry Friday is hosted today at Teach Poetry K-12.