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Wordsworth wrote “I wandered lonely as a cloud” in iambic tetrameter, meaning that each line consists of four iambic feet. (Recall that an iamb has one unstressed syllable and one stressed syllable, as in the word “to-day.”) This choice of meter is very conventional, and perhaps the only surprise is that Wordsworth used tetrameter instead of the five-beat lines of pentameter. In his time, pentameter was the line length of choice for poems on serious or reflective subject matter, since the five-beat line closely approximated the rhythms of ordinary speech. By contrast, the four-beat lines of tetrameter easily subdivide into equal units of two, which typically gives the verse a sing-song quality. Though this quality is present in the poem, Wordsworth also minimizes it by using an unusual stanza structure with a shifting rhyme scheme. Consequently, the poem strikes a curious balance between the speaker’s evident melancholy and the sense of lightness inspired by the swath of daffodils he observes along the lakeshore.

With very few exceptions, Wordsworth maintains a regular and consistent meter throughout the poem. As a representative example, consider the opening stanza (lines 1–5):

I wan- / dered lone- / ly as / a cloud
That floats / on high / o’er vales / and hills,
When all / at once / I saw / a crowd,
A host, / of gold- / en daff- / o-dils;
Be-side / the lake, / be-neath / the trees,
Flutt-er-ing / and dan- / cing in / the breeze.

This stanza is written in precise iambic tetrameter throughout. The only exception to this rule comes in the final line, which opens with a dactyl (stressed–unstressed–unstressed). This foot stands out both for having three syllables and for reversing the basic stress pattern of iambic rhythm. By breaking from the normative rhythm established by the previous five lines, Wordsworth echoes the effect experienced by the speaker upon first seeing the “host of golden daffodils.” The fluttering rhythm of the flowers’ movement disrupts the dulling persistence of the speaker’s loneliness. In this way, the daffodils inspire the speaker to a different kind of attention. Essentially, Wordsworth uses a brief metrical deviation to amplify this effect. As if to underscore this shift in the speaker’s perception, the opening of the second stanza also features a significant metrical deviation—the only other variant in the entire poem (lines 7–8):

Con-tin- / u-ous as / the stars / that shine
And twin-/ kle on / the mil- / ky way

The use of “continuous” leads, in the first line’s second foot, to an anapest (unstressed–unstressed–stressed). This three-syllable foot expands the line in a way that suggests time stretching to allow for fuller contemplation.

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