William Wordsworth (1770 - 1850)

 William Wordsworth (1770 - 1850)

- He was born in Cokermouth, lake district. 

- He is called Nature's Poet, Harbinger of Nature, High Priest of Nature, and Worshiper of Nature. 

- Three lake Poets: Wordsworth, Coleridge, and Robert Southey. 

-Period of Wordsworth best poetry: 1797-1808.

- Wordsworth was influenced by French Revolution. 

- His debut as a writer was made in the year 1787 when he got published a sonnet in "The European Magazine" during his undergraduation at St. John College, Cambridge. 

- In 1794, he moved to Racedown lodge with his sister Dorothy where he met S.T Coleridge. 

- With Increase relation at the Alfoxden House, Wordsworth and Coleridge decided to collaborate on "The Lyrical Ballads (1798).

- Lyrical Ballads began with Coleridge's  

" The Rime of Ancient Mariner " and ended with Wordsworth's Tintern's Abbey". 

- Around the same time, Wordsworth started to put in time for his autobiographical work, 

"The Prelude". Prelude was completed in 1805, but it wasn't published until 1850.

- In 1843, Wordsworth succeeded Robert Southey as the poet laureate of England. And is buried in Grasmere Churchyard.

- According to Leigh Hunt, Wordsworth is

"Prince of Bards".

- According to P.B Shelley, Wordsworth is

"Solemn and unsexual man".

- List of Important works - Poetry :

1. Descriptive Sketches. (1793)

2. Lyrical Ballads. (1798): This publication was without "The Preface" which was added i. Second edition in 1800.

3. Poems, in two volumes. (1807)

4. Guide to the lakes. (1810)

5. The Excursion. (1814)

6. Laodamia. (1815)

7. The White Doe of Rylstone. (1815)

8. Peter Bell. ( 1819)

9. Benjamin, The Wagonner. (1819)

10. The Prelude. (1850): It is an autobiographical poem. 

First version (1799) - 2 books. 

Second version (1805) - 13 books. 

Final version (1850) - 14 books. 

- List of Important works - Prose:

1. Prose Works. (1896)

2. Literary Criticism. (1966)

3. Letters of Dorothy and and William Wordsworth. (1967)

4. Letters of Wordsworth Family. (1969)

5. Prose works. (1974).

6. The Love letters of William and Mary Wordsworth. (1981)

7. Essay upon Epitaphs. (1810)

- List of Important Poems:

In lyrical Ballads (1798):

1. Simon Lee.

2. We are Seven.

3. Lines Written in early Spring.

4. Expostulation amd Reply.

5. The Tables Turned.

6. The Thorn.

7. Lines composed A Few Miles Above Tintern Abbey.

In Lyrical Ballads (1800):

1. Strange Fits of Passion have I Known.

2. She Dwelt Among the Untrodden Ways.

3. Three Years She Grew.

4. A Slumber did my spirit Seal.

5. I Travelled among unknown men.

6. The Solitary Reaper.

7. Nutting.

8. The Ruined Cottage.

9. Michael.

10. The Kitten At Play.

11. Lucy Gray.

In Poems ( 1807):

1. Ode: Intimations of Immortality.

2. Ode to Duty.

3. Resolution and Independence.

4. My Heart Leaps Up.

5. Daffodils: This poem is also known as " I wandered lonely as a cloud.

6. The world is too much with us.

7. Solitary Reapers.

- The Preface to Lyrical Ballads:

1. This was an essay written by Wordsworth in second edition of the lyrical ballads in 1800.

2. This Essay is regarded as the manifesto of Romantic movement. 

3. Wordsworth and Coleridge rejected the Neo-classical trends in poetry and declared the dawn of Romantic imagination and freedom. 

4. Wordsworth is essentially breaking away from the "Artificiality" and "Trivialities" of the 18th century Society. 

5. The over-elaborate, complex concepts of the preceding age is being done away with.

- In this essay, Wordsworth defined Poetry as "The Spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings".