A manuscript of the William Wordsworth poem most associated with the Lake District has returned to Cumbria. A handwritten copy of ‘I Wandered Lonely As A Cloud’ has gone on show at Wordsworth Grasmere, the museum at his former home of Dove Cottage.

The poem more commonly known as Daffodils was inspired by an encounter while walking with his sister Dorothy. The manuscript is on a three-month loan from the British Library.

The poem, written in 1804, was inspired by daffodils which were seen by Wordsworth and his sister  "laughing and dancing in the breeze" on the shore of Ullswater two years earlier. Dorothy was  captivated by the sight and wrote in her journal:

“I never saw daffodils so beautiful they grew among the mossy stones about & about them, some rested their heads upon these stones as on a pillow for weariness & the rest tossed & reeled & danced & seemed as if they verily laughed with the wind that blew upon them over the lake, they looked so gay ever glancing ever changing.”

You can read Wordsworth’s poem here

The manuscript on show was one prepared for the printer over the winter of 1806-07. The manuscript is on display until 29 May, alongside a copy of Dorothy Wordsworth's Grasmere journal.

Jeff Cowton, principal curator and head of learning at the Wordsworth Trust, said: “We’re delighted to bring together two remarkable manuscripts that come from a moment shared by William and Dorothy Wordsworth on the banks of Ullswater in April 1802. At the time, brother and sister were living at Dove Cottage, Grasmere.

“The surprise sight of a stretch of ‘dancing’ and ‘laughing’ daffodils by the lakeside brought an unforgettable joy to both. In one of these manuscripts, Dorothy’s Grasmere journal, we can read a description of the scene and her delighted response. In the other, we see how William’s imagination turns the moment into one of the best loved poems in the English language.

“Each is a wonderful individual response to that shared moment – and here, for the first time, we can see the manuscripts of them together. Through the British Library’s ‘Treasures on Tour’ programme, which is generously supported by the Helen Hamlyn Trust, this is the first time they have been displayed together in Grasmere. We hope our visitors to Wordsworth Grasmere can feel the shared surprise and delight as did Dorothy and William at the sight of the daffodils.”

Alexandra Ault, lead curator of manuscripts 1601-1850 at the British Library, said: 'We are thrilled to lend the manuscript of one of William Wordsworth’s most famous poems to Dove Cottage. The Lake District was both home and inspiration for William and his sister Dorothy and ‘I wandered lonely’ is an embodiment of this. We hope visitors to Dove Cottage enjoy seeing the manuscript on display alongside Dorothy’s journal in an area where the siblings enjoyed such intense creativity.”