The extraordinary rap version of Wordsworth - performed by a squirrel

But verse-lovers should put their fingers in the ears now - for the poem has been 'updated' for the 21st century by being turned into a cringe-making rap song.

Set to a driving beat, the rap encourages the listener to 'Check It' and the daffodils are no longer 'tossing their heads in sprightly dance' but 'tossing up their heads like a pogo dance'.

The rap has been recorded to mark the bicentenary of the poem with the aim of appealing to the next generation of Lake District visitors.

And as well as the embarrassing song, tourist chiefs have commissioned an equally toe-curling pop video featuring a man dressed as a giant red squirrel. The video of 'MC Nuts' was shot on the banks of Ullswater.

Its creators say that as well as making the works of Wordsworth relevant to a younger audience, the rap also shows a clever use of wordplay and is a distant relative of poetic rhyming verse.

A Cumbria Tourism spokesman said: "Wordsworth's Daffodils poem has remained unchanged for 200 years and to keep it alive for another two centuries we wanted to engage the YouTube generation who want modern music and amusing video footage on the web.

"Hopefully this will give them a reason to connect with a poem published in 1807 as well as with the works of Wordsworth and the stunning landscape of the Lake District. It's all a bit of fun really."

David Wilson of the Wordsworth Trust, said: "Wordsworth's poem is about the mind's growing awareness over time of the deepening value of an experience, in this case observing the dancing daffodils.

"The poem is still inspiring people. Part of our work is demonstrating how Wordsworth's poetry is relevant today and encouraging young people to enrich their lives by exploring his poetry in their own ways."

But the new version drew a mixed reaction from academics. Dr Aledine Johns-Putra, senior lecturer in English litertaure at Exeter University, said: "I groaned when I heard it.

"It sounds dreadful, a bit like the Ali G of pastoral poetry, but it also seems slightly patronising to the audience it is intended to reach.

"I think people are perfectly able to understand the original as it is written and this version seems to suggest that Wordsworth in his current form is irrelevant."

But Mary Bryden, professor of European literature at Cardiff University, said: "In a way rap music has the same exuberance that spring flowers like daffodils have and that is what is celebrated by Wordsworth."

And Dr Francis O'Gorman, senior literature lecturer at Leeds University, said: "I don't think the original needs updating but as a separate piece of work, inspired by the original, I think it will hold up on its own. It all sounds rather fun."

Daffodils was published in 1807 in Poems, a collection that cemented Wordsworth's reputation as one of the leading writers of all time.