iary, Reminiscences, and Correspondence of Henry Crabb Robinson',
vol. iii. p. 197.)

The use of the word "machine," in the third stanza of the poem, has been
much criticised, but for a similar use of the term, see the sequel to
'The Waggoner' (p. 107):

'Forgive me, then; for I had been
On friendly terms with this Machine.'

See also 'Hamlet' (act II. scene ii. l. 124):

'Thine evermore, most dear lady, whilst this machine is to him.'

The progress of mechanical industry in Britain since the beginning of
the present century has given a more limited, and purely technical,
meaning to the word, than it bore when Wordsworth used it in these two
instances.--Ed.

[Footnote B: The poet expressly told me that these verses were on his
wife.--H. C. R.]

* * * * *

"I WANDERED LONELY AS A CLOUD"

Composed 1804.--Published 1807

[Town-end, 1804. The two best lines in it are by Mary. The daffodils
grew, and still grow, on the margin of Ullswater, and probably may be
seen to this day as beautiful in the month of March, nodding their
golden heads beside the dancing and foaming waves.--I. F.]

This was No. VII. in the series of Poems, entitled, in the edition of
1807, "Moods of my own Mind." In 1815, and afterwards, it was classed by
Wordsworth among his "Poems of the Imagination."--Ed.

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 golden [1] daffodils;
Beside the lake, beneath the trees, 5
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze. [2]

Continuous as the stars that shine
And twinkle on the milky way,
They stretched in never-ending line
Along the margin of a bay: 10
Ten thousand saw I at a glance,
Tossing their heads in sprightly dance. [3]

The waves beside them danced; but they
Out-did the sparkling waves in glee:
A poet could not but be gay, [4] 15
In such a jocund [5] company:
I gazed--and gazed--but little thought
What wealth the show to me had brought:

For oft, when on my couch I lie
In vacant or in pensive mood, 20
They flash upon that inward eye
Which is the bliss of solitude;
And then my heart with pleasure fills,
And dances with the daffodils.

* * * * *

VARIANTS ON TH