I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud

William Wordsworth · 1804 (published 1807)

Catalog grade guidance: 4–12 — Short lyric; ideal for memorising.

18 content lines · 117 words · Est. recitation about 1 min 7 sec (approx.)

Public-domain text for reading and recitation practice. Source: Project Gutenberg #8824: Poems in Two Volumes, Volume 2 (1807).Estimated time uses ~120 words/minute plus short pauses—not a contest rule.

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 dancing Daffodills;
  Along the Lake, beneath the trees,
  Ten thousand dancing in the breeze.

  The waves beside them danced, but they
  Outdid the sparkling waves in glee:--
  A Poet could not but be gay
  In such a laughing company:
  I gaz'd--and gaz'd--but little thought
  What wealth the shew to me 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.