A poet could not but be gay,
In such a jocund company
These lines are taken from "I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud" composed by William Wordsworth, the famous English poet who
initiated the revival of romanticism in the last decade of 18th century. A spiritual interaction between the speaker and nature has been suggested here.
The poet in this poem shows the influence of nature on human mind. The speaker, while roaming about aimlessly two years ago, saw a large number of daffodils. The flowers offered a happy sight. There was
pleasant wind. It seemed that the golden daffodils were dancing in joy. The speaker, who had a heart of a poet, became affected by the joy of the daffodils. His heart started sharing the joyous movement of the flowers. He became as happy and jovial as those daffodils. Wordsworth treated the daffodils as "jocund company". After two years, while writing this poem that scene flashes upon his mind and makes him similarly joyous. This suggests that the poet recognises nature as a living object which can influence human mind. It implies that a communion between man and nature is possible. Forgetting all worldly engagements, at least for the moment, the speaker becomes one with the joyous flowers. This is what Wordsworth believed to be the essence of poetic imagination. This belief is certainly romantic.
