What is the origin and meaning of the phrase the son is the father of the man?

Question

two newspaper editors disagreed publicly over the meaning leaving observers confused and bemused!!

Answer 1

The phrase originated in a poem, I believe, by William Wordsworth, the famous English poet.

What is means is that a boy, or son, through his developmental years, sets the mold for what he will become as a man.

Answer 2

The origin of the phrase is in William Wordsworth's poem The Rainbow:

My heart leaps up when I behold
A Rainbow in the sky:
So was it when my life began;
So is it now I am a man;
So be it when I shall grow old,
Or let me die!
The Child is father of the man;
And I wish my days to be
Bound each to each by natural piety.