Wordsworth's Power of Nature

Nature's power and beauty is difficult to refute. Natural splendor in all of its forms is both pleasing to the eyes and stimulating to the soul. It was common for the Romantic poet to incorporate Nature as a theme in his poems for these and for other reasons. Nature has a transforming power and, for Wordsworth, that power may offer pleasure both in the present sight as well as the recalled memory.

In his poem "I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud", Wordsworth's narrator floats above a beautiful and vast expanse of daffodils. So infinite is the view, that the speaker claims that it is "Continuous as the stars that shine/And twinkle on the milky way" (Lines 7-8). So powerful is the image of these marvelous flora, that even the waves of the bay can't outdo their "sprightly dance" (Line 12). 

While the speaker's appreciation is evident due to the manner in which he describes the view he sees, it is not until he reflects upon the experience that he truly realizes the effect of what he saw.He says, "I gazed--and gazed--but little thought/What wealth the show to me had brought" (Lines 17-18). Here, though he claims that the experience did not bring him much to note while seeing it, he seems to know that upon reflection and consideration, the dancing daffodils will haunt his memory forever. After saying that while lounging, thinking deeply or thinking of nothing at all, the daffodils "flash upon that inward eye" (Line 21). Wordsworth ends the poem with the couplet "And then my heart with pleasure fills/And dances with the daffodils" (Lines 23-24).

Nature's power is one so great as to have an effect on human mood and emotion. The view that the expanse of daffodils afforded to the speaker is one that lives on in his memory, even when he is not seeking to remember it. In any mood, be it "vacant" or "pensive" (Line 20), the memory of this natural experience made a profound impact on mind of the speaker. The profundity of nature is what Wordsworth explores in this poem, and he does so by showing how a simple view of daffodils surrounding a bay affected the spirit of the narrator forever. Natural beauty has a power to which no man made object can possibly compare. One may remember the sight of a beautiful house, a painting, or an elegant piece of furniture, but natural splendor has an effect on the mind and on the soul that words cannot really justify. Wordsworth explores the psyche of a narrator deeply changed by the view he once saw, and that universal theme speaks to the fact that nature's power is one that can never be refuted.