William Wordsworth was born on the 7th April 1770 at Cockermouth in 
Cumberland, England.  He grew up in the beautiful lake district that was later 
to provide inspiration for much of his poetry and philosophy.  His early 
boyhood was marred by the tragedy that was to accompany him throughout life.  
When he was just eight years old his mother died,  followed by his father five 
years later. From a young age, he was very aware that the way in which he lived 
would have a profound influence upon his creativity.  He later put many of his 
experiances into the largely autobiographical poem, The Prelude, recognising 
that this was an unconventional method of writing poatry: "A thing 
unprecedented in literary history that a man should talk so much about 
himself."  Strong contemporary opinion held that to use poetry to describe 
normal, everyday occurrences was to demean the form.      William Wordsworth


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 daffodils;
Beside the lake, beneath the trees,
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.