In 1798, William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge published Lyrical Ballads. In 1800, a second edition of the volume appeared with an expanded introductory section titled “Preface to Lyrical Ballads,” which was written by Wordsworth. This preface soon became an outline for a new wave of poetry called Romanticism. One important idea that Wordsworth expounded upon was the idea that poetry should be driven by “spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings” (Wordsworth, William. “Preface to Lyrical Ballads.” Famous Prefaces. The Harvard Classics, 1909-14). This emotion should be “recollected in tranquility” and “contemplated” until a “kindred [reaction] to that which was before the subject of contemplation […] does itself actually exist in the mind” (“Preface”). “Daffodils” is a thorough example of this idea. The image of the daffodils that the speaker envisions when lonely becomes, during contemplation, a source of “wealth” (Line 18) to be drawn upon when feeling low.

Romanticism both grew out of and developed as a reaction against the Age of Enlightenment, which was the dominant philosophical movement in Europe during the 17th and 18th centuries. Although Romanticism broadly agreed with many of the ideals of the Age of Enlightenment, like individual freedom and religious tolerance, it found its emphasis on scientific rationality restrictive.