This paper employs a formalist close reading of William Wordsworth’s Romantic lyric I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud. By shifting focus away from biographical and historical contexts, it concentrates on the poem’s intrinsic textual elements, including stanza structure, iambic tetrameter, rhyme scheme, imagery, personification, and sound devices. Through an analysis of its four stanzas, this study demonstrates how formal craftsmanship shapes the poem’s emotional progression: from the speaker’s initial loneliness, to a joyful encounter with the daffodils, and finally to an inner solace derived from memory and imagination. Beyond a formal interpretation, this article further explores the poem’s thematic connotations, such as the awe of nature, the pleasure in solitude, and the Romantic sublime. It also suggests that formalist criticism, while effective in interpreting textual aesthetics, has its limitations. Supplementary perspectives, such as ecological or ethical criticism, can enrich the understanding of the text. This research aims to offer a multi-layered interpretation of Wordsworth’s classic work.
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Yin, Y. (2026) Form and Poetic Effect: A Formalist Reading of Wordsworth’s I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud. Journal of Social Development and History, 2(4), 20-25. https://doi.org/10.71052/jsdh/TEHQ3269