Daffodils and Wordsworth

I saw daffodils today, which made me think of William Wordsworth, one of my favorite poets. This caused me to do a Google search for his poetry and I stumbled across my favorite poems by this favorite of poets.

I first heard this poem in the TV show Beauty and the Beast. I’m a hopeless romantic so this show was right up my alley. Because of this show, I started writing stories based on the characters (this is known as fan fic) and have had several published. Also because of this show I have looked up more poetry than I can name on my own just because I wanted to read more by poets that were quoted in the show. Without Beauty and the Beast, I would never have found this:

COMPOSED UPON WESTMINSTER BRIDGE, SEPT. 3, 1802
William Wordsworth
EARTH has not anything to show more fair:
Dull would he be of soul who could pass by
A sight so touching in its majesty:
This City now doth, like a garment, wear
The beauty of the morning; silent, bare,
Ships, towers, domes, theatres, and temples lie
Open unto the fields, and to the sky;
All bright and glittering in the smokeless air.
Never did sun more beautifully steep
In his first splendour, valley, rock, or hill; 10
Ne'er saw I, never felt, a calm so deep!
The river glideth at his own sweet will:
Dear God! the very houses seem asleep;
And all that mighty heart is lying still!

I would never have read it aloud in Oral Interpretation of Literature class, I would never have spoken it to my grandbabies a I held them in my arms and I would have missed out on one of the loveliest poems in all of recorded human history.

So the next time someone tells you that nothing good can come from watching television, think about this. Without television and one little television show that affected my life in so many ways, I’d have missed this poem. You never know where you will find inspiration, don’t throw it away just because it comes from what some call the ‘boob tube.’