William Wordsworth’s The Daffodils compared to Miracle on St Davids Da

William Wordsworth’s The Daffodils compared to Gillian Clarke’s Miracle on St David's Day In this essay I will attempt to compare two very contrasting poems, William Wordsworth’s `The Daffodils' which was written in pre 1900s and Gillian Clarke’s ‘Miracle on St David's Day’, written in the 20th century. Strangely enough Gillian Clarke’s ‘Miracle on St David's day’ was actually inspired by ‘The Daffodils’. In 1804 William Wordsworth wrote ‘a masterpiece’, two years after his experience with the daffodils, while the poem â€Å"Miracle on St. David’s Day† was written by Gillian Clarke around 1980, one hundred and seventy-six years later. Wordsworth was born on 7 April 1770 in Cockermouth, Cumberland, and raised around the mountains of Cumberland around the River Derwent. It was here that he would have been in ‘pure communication’ with nature and this was probably the inspiration for most of his poems. Gillian Clarke was born in Wales in 1937. Her parents spoke only Welsh but she learned to speak English as well as Welsh and currently lives in Tallgarreg, Wales, where she breeds sheep with her architect husband, daughter and two sons. The poems have many differences and similarities. I plan to write about some of them in this essay. The poems are set in two different places. ‘The Daffodils’ was written when Wordsworth was out walking on his own, in Gowbarrow Park, by the River Ullswater – which was obviously outside. ‘Miracle on St. David’s Day was written in a mental institution – an indoor setting. This has an effect on the way each poem is written. Both are written about the human mind, memory and imagination, and I think that writing about these subjects would have been quite hard to do. Both poems ca... ...hem his spirit is immediately lifted, and he feels ‘gay’. This conveys that the sight of the daffodils was magnificent, and this is why I adore this poem so much, I almost feel jealous of Wordsworth for two reasons – one for his being there to witness the daffodils and also because he has an extremely talented writing ability always at his fingertips. Clarke’s poem is not as good as Wordsworth’s, although she does describe the event very well, and the poem is superbly written, but in my opinion, Wordsworth has written a better poem, one which is renowned the world over. I say that I prefer Wordsworth’s poem as he writes about a more uplifting theme, and this gives Wordsworth the edge. Clarke’s poem is not as uplifting as Wordsworth’s. I think that he has used the perfect words to describe his perfect feelings, and that is how I describe his perfect poem.