Daffodils were brought to Britain by the Romans who thought
that the sap from daffodils had healing powers.
Actually the sap contains crystals that can irritate the skin.
The Greeks originally associated daffodils with death.
According to Greek myth, daffodils grew in the meadows of the
Underworld, kingdom of the dead.
It was here that Hades captured Persephone after she had strayed from her
companions to pick some daffodils.
The daffodil's alternate name, narcissus,i s associated with the handsome
Greek youth Narcissus. While walking by a river one day, Narcissus stooped
to take a drink. Wanting to possess the image of himself he saw in the water,
he leaned further over and drowned. The daffodil's "drooping" is said to
symbolize Narcissus still stooping to admire himself.
Daffodils say "the sun is always shining when I'm with you."


The Daffodils
by William Wordsworth (1770-1850)

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.

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

The waves beside them danced, but they
Outdid 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;

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