Versions of Wordsworth

Within the printed editions of the poem, I found myself focusing mainly on the paratext and what editions chose to include the extra stanza of the poem. I find it fascinating that in the 1807 printer’s manuscript Wordsworth did not include this second stanza for the printers, but in later versions of publication he added this stanza and changed some of the language. This brings up an interesting question of which version should be used as copy-text for editions, and which version we consider the true version of the poem. It seems that Stillinger and Curtis both have different ideas about what constitutes the correct version of this poem (this goes beyond even the added stanza, with the 1983 edition punctuating and capitalizing lines very differently). In the 1983 edition the 1807 printer’s manuscript is the main version, but the paratext includes the extra stanza from the 1815 printing of the poem. I am curious as to what my peers think about this handling of the two versions. The 1983 paratext also informs us that Wordsworth titled the poem "Daffodils" in many of his manuscripts and collections, and yet very few editions use this title for the poem. The paratext makes me question the choice of some of the publishers or editions, and also makes me think more about the idea of control. Though Wordsworth had different versions of this poem and controlled the additions to the 1815 texts, it seems the printers and editors have far more control when it comes to which version has more authority, and control the title of the poem entirely.  Perhaps Curtis does not title the poem because the title given by Wordsworth was not “I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud”, but Stillinger keeps this title for the poem. The paratext illuminates what different editors find important to include in printings of the poem.