"Surprised by Joy"

Poem Review # 108830

English > Analysis
Literature > Poetry

"Surprised by Joy"

An analysis of the function of memory in William Wordsworth's sonnet "Surprised by Joy".

1,259 words () | 1 source | MLA | 2008 United States

Paper Summary:

This paper examines the sonnet "Surprised by Joy," in which William Wordsworth writes about his painful feelings about the death of his daughter Catherine. Specifically, the paper discusses how, in his other poems, Wordsworth uses his memory to return to an emotional status he enjoys but, in 'Surprised by Joy", memory draws him back to the painful emotional space where he does not want to go. Memory cannot bring his daughter Catherine back to him, and his own inspiration which he usually derives from a joyful memory, cannot protect him from all the pain caused by the loss of his daughter.

From the Paper:

"In "Surprised by joy," the physical space is absent. Wordsworth became very hopeless and lonely when he wanted to share his joy with his dead daughter, because the memory could not bring him back to the original place where the story happened. In "Tintern Abbey," he returned back to the ruin and experienced the same scenery again. Even in "I wandered lonely as a cloud", although he revived the scene of the dancing daffodils when he was sitting "in the coach" (305, Line 19), there was still a place to go, and he could easily see those beautiful daffodils again if he wanted to. "