Saturday 10 May 2008

A Host Of Barleycorn Daffodils

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 waves in glee,
A poet could not but be gay,
In such a jocund company;
I gazed - and gazed - but little thought
What wealth to me the show 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.
By William Wordsworth (1770 - 1850)

35 comments:

Q said...

Thank you so very much for the poem and all your daffodils...
They are outstanding. I do love the daffodils so very much.
Sherry

A wildlife gardener said...

A warm welcome to you, Sherry, to the daffodil garden at Barleycorn :)

I'm so glad I took these photos before the thunder and lightning we have been having this afternoon :)

Anonymous said...

How lovely is your crowd of golden daffodils!
Makes my heart feel glad. Your place must bring you lots of joy and serenity.

Libbys Blog said...

What a magnificent showing of daffodils, such a cheerful sight!

A wildlife gardener said...

* Great to have your company, Becky :) The garden is full of peace and serenity...and the daffies make it truly Spring now :)

* Come and join us Libby amongst the swell of daffodils :)

Crafty Green Poet said...

beautiful poetic walk through the daffodils!

Wanda said...

What a bouquet of lovliness and the poem ~~ perfect.

Cheryl said...

It is so strange seeing all your lovely daffodils when mine are finished. I have been taking the heads of today. They are beautiful wildlife gardener and of course Wordsworth sums it up much better than we ever could. It is also my daughters favourite poem.
In fact as a young girl she had "I wandered lonely as a cloud" stenciled on her bedroom wall.Thank you as always for a wonderful post.

Duxbury Ramblers said...

Now isn't that wonderful - I was only reading about the wild daffodil which today is a rare plant across England and yet in wordsworth's time he saw a host - according to my book it was everywhere in the late sixteenth century, I would love to have seen the sight that inspired the poem.
Great Photos, take care and God Bless.

Unknown said...

Wow... what a lovely bunch of daffodils you have! I love how you mixed them in with the poem, too... wonderful. :)

linda may said...

Beautiful just beautiful wildlife gardener. I am 6th generation Aussie mostly from mixed U.K. blood, English, Welsh & Scots. I love the cottage style garden I have been seeing around you, maybe there is something in my heritage that attracts me to them. I come from a line of home gardeners, on both sides.

A wildlife gardener said...

A warm Sunday morning welcome to you all in the Barleycorn garden :)

* Great poem to go with the daffodils, Crafty Green Poet :)

* Great to have your company, Wanda. Glad you enjoyed the daffs :)

* Lovely to see you, Cheryl. I find it amazing our daffodils are so late in blooming compared to those in the south of the country. Guess it's our chillier temperatures. I'm with your daughter, I love Wordsworth's poem too :)

* Good morning to you both, duxbury Ramblers. On lovely days like today, I'm always thinking of you and wondering which part of the pountryside you'll be out exploring. The wild daffodils in great profusion must have been an amazing sight to see...inspirational enough to write a poem :)

* Welcome, Blackswamp_Girl. Come and join us on our walk through the daffodils :)

* Our roots and our forebears influence us and shape us more than we know, Linda May. I come from a long line of gardeners and tillers of the soil too...something else we have in common, Linda :)

Anonymous said...

Wonderful pictures and thank you for your Mother's Day comment on my blog.
I am watching a TV show from the UK with Kirstie Allsop called Location Location and Relocation co-presented with Phil Spencer.
Love the real estate show selling old barns and even church conversions as well as old houses with period features.

-Cheers.

Jeanne said...

I love all that you share my lovely friend.
Happy Mother's Day~
Love and hugs and smiles across the miles.
Love Jeanne

Naturegirl said...

When flowers bloom bright the heart feels light! A post full of bright Spring Love!
Happy Mother's Day! hugs NG

Bimbimbie said...

An English Spring would not be right without Daffodils to sight *!*

Anonymous said...

I just LOVE daffodils, but of course they don't grow wild where I come from. I've mostly grown them sitting on glasses of water on the windowsill in Winterime but some naturalised in a secret spot in my parent's native garden SHHHHH! ... Thanks beautiful images!

G3T Films said...

Well, if that's not enough to send someone Daffy! Mass plantings like that are just wonderful.

I assume you planted these. Do you know how many bulbs you put in?♠

sandy said...

Beautiful daffies today. Beautiful post.

sandy

Shirley said...

Great post, Wildlife Gardener :-)

I loved the photos too! Funnily enough I had planned a video of my dancing daffodils with a quote or two too but my daffs are all gone now and I missed the opportunity! Sometimes I have time for posts and other times I don’t – we all have the same problem at this time of year I am quite sure :-D

Glad you found the time to capture such a beautiful sight in your garden and have shared it with us all :-D

Have a great week :-D

Anonymous said...

Your posts are so well thought out. i love the reminder of the poem and the photos of your flowers are so bright and cheery. Thanks for this host of lovely daffodils in your hosted on your lovely site!
Sara from farmingfriends

A wildlife gardener said...

Welcome to the daffodil walk at Barleycorn, Everyone :)

* Lovely to see you, Guild_Rez. I am a fan of those shows too. I love houses with character :)

* Great to have your company, dear Jeanne, as always :)

* It's great to have you home again, Nature Girl, and here on a visit to the garden. Glad you liked the post :)

* Or a Scottish one either, Bimbimbie :)

* So glad you liked the photos, Anonymous...wish you could have some too, though I fancy you will have lots of exoticas where you are :)

* I've no idea how many we have planted over the past seventeen years, Gt3 Films...but they have naturalised and more than doubled their numbers :)

* Great to hear you enjoyed the post, Sandy :)

* Hi, shirl! Lovely to have your company. You are so right about us being busy at the moment...it's all go. Thank you for the lovely compliments :)

* You say the loveliest things, Sara. Thank you very much. I'm glad you enjoyed the post :)

SandyCarlson said...

I sure do love everything about this post. Daffs are my favorite flower. They are intrepid heralds of joy in early spring.

Ruth said...

My favorites are the white with yellow trumpets. I never tire of daffodils.

Marie said...

Beautiful daffodils! Wonderful post!

Have a nice day :)

A wildlife gardener said...

A warm welcome to the Barleycorn daffodil walk, Everyone :)

* I agree with you, Sandy, that they herald the Spring in every way, especially with their golden yellow trumpets :)

* The different species bring so much variety to the garden, Ruth :)

* Glad you enjoyed the daffs, Marie. Thanks for the visit :)

Ruth Welter said...

Just beautiful WG, I love daffodils...mine are all done now and other things are blooming away.

Anonymous said...

oh, I love this sonnet by Wordsworth and you've matched it perfectly with your photos! I think you must have 10 thousand daffodils yourself!? (in a plethora of varieties too). It must be incredible in person.

G3T Films said...

Ah, yes, the pleasure of having a real winter. In Oz the Daffy's dormant bulbs don't survive as they're too warm and susceptible to fungal rot. I spent many an summer digging the bulbs back out of my mums garden to be stored in the fridge until the following year.

A wildlife gardener said...

Good morning , One and All, and welcome to our little corner of paradise in Springtime :)

* Do you know even though I only did this post on the 10th May...and it is now the 14th...our daffodils are going over already, Ruth W. Just goes to show...carpe diem :)

* I know for certain we do not have ten thousand, Kathleen, but we do have a few hundred daffodils. thank you for your kind words :)

* Thank you for commenting a second time, G3T Films. I could never be as faithful as you in digging up the bulbs and over-wintering them in the fridge until the following year. Everything I grow has to be full hardy...or I simply choose to grow other things :)

Yolanda Elizabet Heuzen said...

It's not for nothing that this poem is so well known. Such lovely words of wisdom by WW. How lovely to see this phletora of daffodowndillies, mine are all gone now.

smilnsigh said...

Lovely... Lovely...

Mari-Nanci
Photos-City-Mine

a friend said...

The last photo is my favourite.

A wildlife gardener said...

A warm welcome to you all on this chilly day in May at Barleycorn :)

* As I write, Yolanda, our daffodillies are all but over now as the lovely sunny weather of the past week has frazzled their heads. Glad I capyured them in time :)

* Welcome, Smilnsigh. Glad you enjoyed the post, thanks :)

* These ones are very sweet with a faint lemony tinge around the fringes, Friend. Thanks for stopping by :)

MeMeMe said...

Beautiful and heavenly!