124 THE MUSIC OF WILD FLOWERS 



is hidden in obscurity. Some assert that it is a corrup- 

 tion of Asphodel ; others that it is simply the old 

 Anglo-Saxon word " affodyle," which signifies " that 

 which cometh early." Other authorities, including 

 Dr Prior, would regard it as a corruption of saffron- 

 lily ; and that the plant is commonly associated with the 

 lily tribe is clear from its popular name of Lent or 

 Lenten Lily, which in the Isle of Wight is sometimes 

 corrupted into Lantern Lily. But whatever be the 

 origin of the word, whether in the form of " Daffodill or 

 Daffodowndilly," it must certainly be reckoned among 

 the ancient names of British plants. 



There is little wonder that the daffodil has been a 

 favourite flower with the poets. Alike in classical and 

 in modern times its praises have been sung. Gower 

 celebrates it, and Shakespeare has enshrined it in im- 

 mortal verse. "The daffodillies," says Milton, "fill 

 their cups with tears." Wordsworth's exquisite lyric 

 is well known ; but hardly less poetical is his sister's 

 prose description of the spot, " beside the lake, beneath 

 the trees," where the flowers flourished. " They 

 grew," she wrote, " among the mossy stones ; . . . 

 some rested their heads on these stones as on a pillow, 

 the rest tossed and reeled and danced, and seemed as if 

 they verily laughed with the wind they looked so gay 

 and glancing." " A thing of beauty is a joy for ever," 

 cries Keats in Endymion, 



" and such are daffodils, 

 With the green world they live in." 



And Shelley sings : 



" Narcissus, the fairest among them all, 

 Who gaze on their eyes in the stream's recess, 

 Till they die of their own dear loveliness." 



