O Proserpina! For the flowers now that, frighted, thou lettst fall From Dis's wagon. Daffodils That come before the swallow dares, and take The winds of March with beauty.[32] [32] "The Winter's Tale"; Act IV, Scene III. Much has been written about this description of the daffodils; and it is generally thought that "to take the winds of March with beauty" means to charm, or captivate, the wild winds with their loveliness. I do not agree with this idea, and venture to suggest that as the daffodils sway and swing in the boisterous March winds with such infinite grace and beauty, bending this way and that, they "take the winds with beauty," just as a graceful dancer is said to take the rhythmic steps of the dance with charming manner. We get a hint for this also in Wordsworth's poem: 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 yellow 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 the 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 would not be but 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. [Illustration: GARDENERS AT WORK, SIXTEENTH CENTURY] [Illustration: GARDEN PLEASURES, SIXTEENTH CENTURY] No one can read this poem without feeling that the dancing daffodils "take the winds of March with beauty." The very name of the daffodil touches our imagination. It carries us to the Elysian Fields, for the ancient Greeks pictured the meads of the blessed as beautifully golden and deliciously fragrant with asphodels. The changes ring through asphodel, affodile, affodyl, finally reaching daffodil. Then there is one more quaint and familiar name and personification, Daffy-down-dilly that came up to town In a white petticoat and a green gown. The idea of daffodil as a rustic maiden was popular in folk-lore and poetry. The feeling is so well expressed in Michael Drayton's sprightly eclogue called "Daffodil" that it forms a natural complement to the happy song of care-free _Autolycus_ just quoted. This Pastoral captured popular fancy; and it is just as fresh and buoyant as it was when it was written three hundred years ago. Two shepherds, _Batte_ and _Gorbo_, meet: BATTE Gorbo, as thou camst this way, By yonder little hill, Or, as thou through the fields didst stray, Sawst thou my Daffodil?