The poem has its roots in Wordsworth's personal history. He had previously visited the area as a troubled twenty-three-year-old in August 1793. Since then he had matured and his seminal poetical relationship with Samuel Taylor Coleridge had begun.
The poem is linked to Wordsworth's personal journey. In August 1793, when he was twenty-three years old and troubled, he visited the area. Since then, his relationship with Samuel Taylor Coleridge as a poet has deepened.