Question

Read the lines from "I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud." The waves beside them danced; but they Out-did the sparkling waves in glee: A poet could not but be gay, In such a jocund company: I gazed—and gazed—but little thought What wealth the show to me had brought. What is the connotation of the word wealth as it is used in this context?

Answer 1

In this context, the connotation of the word wealth does not refer to the amount of money the person obtains; wealth is not only being rich because of a large amount of money, it is being rich for all the valuable things that you have. In this case, the happiness that the show brought to the speaker becomes his or her wealth. The reader learns that happiness is what makes the speaker wealthy because of the use of words related to happiness such as glee, gay, and jocund.