Composed 1789.—Published 1798

[The Poem]

This title is scarcely correct. It was during a solitary walk on the banks of the Cam that I was first struck with this appearance, and applied it to my own feelings in the manner here expressed, changing the scene to the Thames, near Windsor. This, and the three stanzas of the following poem, Remembrance of Collins, formed one piece; but, upon the recommendation of Coleridge, the three last stanzas were separated from the other.—I. F.

The title of the poem in 1798, when it consisted of five stanzas, was Lines written near Richmond, upon the Thames, at Evening. When, in the edition of 1800, it was divided, the title of the first part was, Lines written when sailing in a Boat at Evening; that of the second part was Lines written near Richmond upon the Thames.
From 1815 to 1843, both poems were placed by Wordsworth among those "of Sentiment and Reflection." In 1845 they were transferred to "Poems written in Youth."—Ed.