Sear

William
Wordsworth

William Wordswort h (7 April 1770 – 23 April 1850) was an English Romant ic poet who, wit h
Samuel Taylor Coleridge, helped t o launch t he Romant ic Age in English lit erat ure wit h t heir joint
publicat ion Lyrical Ballads (1798).
 William Wordsworth

Wordsworth on Helvellyn by Benjamin Haydon (National Portrait Gallery).

Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom

In office
6 April 1843 – 23 April 1850

Monarch Victoria

Preceded by Robert Southey

Succeeded by Alfred, Lord Tennyson

Personal details

Born 7 April 1770

Cockermouth, Cumberland, England

Died 23 April 1850 (aged 80)

Rydal, Westmorland, England

Spouse Mary Hutchinson (1802–1850; his death)

Children Dora Wordsworth

Relatives Dorothy Wordsworth (sister)

Christopher Wordsworth (brother)
Richard Wordsworth ( great-great-grandson )
John Wordsworth (nephew)

Alma mater St John's College, Cambridge

 Occupation Poet

Signature

Wordswort h's magnum opus is generally considered t o be The Prelude, a semi-aut obiographical
poem of his early years t hat he revised and expanded a number of t imes. It was post humously
t it led and published by his wife in t he year of his deat h, before which it was generally known as
"t he poem t o Coleridge".

Wordswort h was Poet Laureat e from 1843 unt il his deat h from pleurisy on 23 April 1850.

Early life

The second of five children born t o John Wordswort h and Ann Cookson, William Wordswort h was
born on 7 April 1770 in what is now named Wordswort h House in Cockermout h, Cumberland, (now
in Cumbria),[1] part of t he scenic region in nort hwest ern England known as t he Lake Dist rict .
William's sist er, t he poet and diarist Dorot hy Wordswort h, t o whom he was close all his life, was
born t he following year, and t he t wo were bapt ised t oget her. They had t hree ot her siblings:
Richard, t he eldest , who became a lawyer; John, born aft er Dorot hy, who went t o sea and died in
1805 when t he ship of which he was capt ain, t he Earl of Abergavenny, was wrecked off t he
sout h coast of England; and Christ opher, t he youngest , who ent ered t he Church and rose t o be
Mast er of Trinit y College, Cambridge.[2]

Wordswort h's fat her was a legal represent at ive of James Lowt her, 1st Earl of Lonsdale, and,
t hrough his connect ions, lived in a large mansion in t he small t own. He was frequent ly away from
home on business, so t he young William and his siblings had lit t le involvement wit h him and
remained dist ant from him unt il his deat h in 1783.[3] However, he did encourage William in his
reading, and in part icular set him t o commit large port ions of verse t o memory, including works by
Milt on, Shakespeare and Spenser. William was also allowed t o use his fat her's library. William also
spent t ime at his mot her's parent s' house in Penrit h, Cumberland, where he was exposed t o t he
moors, but did not get along wit h his grandparent s or his uncle, who also lived t here. His host ile
int eract ions wit h t hem dist ressed him t o t he point of cont emplat ing suicide.[4]

Wordswort h was t aught t o read by his mot her and at t ended, first , a t iny school of low qualit y in
Cockermout h, t hen a school in Penrit h for t he children of upper-class families, where he was
t aught by Ann Birket t , who insist ed on inst illing in her st udent s t radit ions t hat included pursuing
bot h scholarly and local act ivit ies, especially t he fest ivals around East er, May Day and Shrove
Tuesday. Wordswort h was t aught bot h t he Bible and t he Spectator, but lit t le else. It was at t he
school in Penrit h t hat he met t he Hut chinsons, including Mary, who lat er became his wife.[5]

Aft er t he deat h of Wordswort h's mot her, in 1778, his fat her sent him t o Hawkshead Grammar
School in Lancashire (now in Cumbria) and sent Dorot hy t o live wit h relat ives in Yorkshire. She and
William did not meet again for nine years.

Wordswort h made his debut as a writ er in 1787 when he published a sonnet in The European
Magazine. That same year he began at t ending St John's College, Cambridge. He received his BA
degree in 1791.[6] He ret urned t o Hawkshead for t he first t wo summers of his t ime at Cambridge,
and oft en spent lat er holidays on walking t ours, visit ing places famous for t he beaut y of t heir
landscape. In 1790 he went on a walking t our of Europe, during which he t oured t he Alps
ext ensively, and visit ed nearby areas of France, Swit zerland, and It aly.[7]

Relationship with Annette Vallon E…

In November 1791, Wordswort h visit ed Revolut ionary France and became enchant ed wit h t he
Republican movement . He fell in love wit h a French woman, Annet t e Vallon, who, in 1792, gave
birt h t o t heir daught er Caroline. Financial problems and Brit ain's t ense relat ions wit h France
forced him t o ret urn t o England alone t he following year.[8] The circumst ances of his ret urn and
his subsequent behaviour raised doubt s as t o his declared wish t o marry Annet t e. However, he
support ed her and his daught er as best he could in lat er life. The Reign of Terror left
Wordswort h t horoughly disillusioned wit h t he French Revolut ion and t he out break of armed
host ilit ies bet ween Brit ain and France prevent ed him from seeing Annet t e and his daught er for
some years.

Wit h t he Peace of Amiens again allowing t ravel t o France, in 1802 Wordswort h and his sist er
Dorot hy visit ed Annet t e and Caroline in Calais. The purpose of t he visit was t o prepare Annet t e
for t he fact of his fort hcoming marriage t o Mary Hut chinson.[8] Aft erwards he wrot e t he sonnet
"It is a beaut eous evening, calm and free", recalling a seaside walk wit h t he 9-year-old Caroline,
whom he had never seen before t hat visit . Mary was anxious t hat Wordswort h should do more for
Caroline. Upon Caroline's marriage, in 1816, Wordswort h set t led £30 a year on her (equivalent t o
£2,313 in 2021), payment s which cont inued unt il 1835, when t hey were replaced by a capit al
set t lement .[9][10]

Early career
First publication and Lyrical Ballads
E…

Wordsworth in 1798, about the time he began The Prelude.[11]

The year 1793 saw t he first publicat ion of poems by Wordswort h, in t he collect ions An Evening
Walk and Descriptive Sketches. In 1795 he received a legacy of £900 from Raisley Calvert and
became able t o pursue a career as a poet .

It was also in 1795 t hat he met Samuel Taylor Coleridge in Somerset . The t wo poet s quickly
developed a close friendship. For t wo years from 1795, William and his sist er Dorot hy lived at
Racedown House in Dorset —a propert y of t he Pinney family—t o t he west of Pilsdon Pen. They
walked in t he area for about t wo hours every day, and t he nearby hills consoled Dorot hy as she
pined for t he fells of her nat ive Lakeland. She wrot e,

"We have hills which, seen from a distance almost take the character of
mountains, some cultivated nearly to their summits, others in their
wild state covered with furze and broom. These delight me the most as
they remind me of our native wilds."[12]

In 1797, t he pair moved t o Alfoxt on House, Somerset , just a few miles away from Coleridge's
home in Net her St owey. Toget her Wordswort h and Coleridge (wit h insight s from Dorot hy)
produced Lyrical Ballads (1798), an import ant work in t he English Romant ic movement .[13] The
volume gave neit her Wordswort h's nor Coleridge's name as aut hor. One of Wordswort h's most
famous poems, "Tint ern Abbey", was published in t his collect ion, along wit h Coleridge's "The
Rime of t he Ancient Mariner". The second edit ion, published in 1800, had only Wordswort h list ed
as t he aut hor, and included a preface t o t he poems.[14] It was augment ed significant ly in t he next
edit ion, published in 1802.[15] In t his preface, which some scholars consider a cent ral work of
Romant ic lit erary t heory, Wordswort h discusses what he sees as t he element s of a new t ype of
verse, one t hat is based on t he ordinary language "really used by men" while avoiding t he poet ic
dict ion of much 18t h-cent ury verse. Wordswort h also gives his famous definit ion of poet ry as
"t he spont aneous overflow of powerful feelings: it t akes it s origin from emot ion recollect ed in
t ranquilit y", and calls his own poems in t he book "experiment al". A fourt h and final edit ion of
Lyrical Ballads was published in 1805.[16]

The Borderers
E…
Bet ween 1795 and 1797, Wordswort h wrot e his only play, The Borderers, a verse t ragedy set
during t he reign of King Henry III of England, when Englishmen in t he Nort h Count ry came int o
conflict wit h Scot t ish border reivers. He at t empt ed t o get t he play st aged in November 1797,
but it was reject ed by Thomas Harris, t he manager of t he Covent Garden Theat re, who
proclaimed it "impossible t hat t he play should succeed in t he represent at ion". The rebuff was
not received light ly by Wordswort h and t he play was not published unt il 1842, aft er subst ant ial
revision.[17]

Germany and move to the Lake District

Wordswort h, Dorot hy, and Coleridge t ravelled t o

Germany in t he aut umn of 1798. While Coleridge was I travelled among unknown men
int ellect ually st imulat ed by t he journey, it s main
I travelled among unknown men,
effect on Wordswort h was t o produce
   In lands beyond the sea;
homesickness.[8] During t he harsh wint er of 1798–99
Nor, England! did I know till then
Wordswort h lived wit h Dorot hy in Goslar, and, despit e    What love I bore to thee.
ext reme st ress and loneliness, began work on t he
aut obiographical piece t hat was lat er t it led The 'T is past, that melancholy dream!
Prelude. He wrot e a number of ot her famous poems in    Nor will I quit thy shore
Goslar, including "The Lucy poems". In t he Aut umn of A second time, for still I seem

1799, Wordswort h and his sist er ret urned t o England    To love thee more and more.

and visit ed t he Hut chinson family at Sockburn. When

Among thy mountains did I feel
Coleridge arrived back in England he t ravelled t o t he
   T he joy of my desire;
Nort h wit h t heir publisher Joseph Cot t le t o meet
Wordswort h and undert ake a proposed t our of t he And she I cherished turned her wheel
Lake Dist rict . This was t he immediat e cause of t he    Beside an English fire.

brot her and sist er's set t ling at Dove Cot t age in
T hy mornings showed, thy nights
Grasmere in t he Lake Dist rict , t his t ime wit h anot her
concealed,
poet , Robert Sout hey, nearby. Wordswort h, Coleridge
   T he bowers where Lucy played;
and Sout hey came t o be known as t he "Lake And thine too is the last green field
Poet s".[19] Throughout t his period many of    T hat Lucy's eyes surveyed.
Wordswort h's poems revolved around t hemes of
[18]
deat h, endurance, separat ion and grief.

Marriage and children

Dove Cottage (Town End, Grasmere) – home of William and Dorothy Wordsworth, 1799–1808; home of Thomas De
Quincey, 1809–1820

In 1802, Lowt her's heir, William Lowt her, 1st Earl of Lonsdale, paid t he £4,000 owed t o
Wordswort h's fat her t hrough Lowt her's failure t o pay his aide.[20] It was t his repayment t hat
afforded Wordswort h t he financial means t o marry. On 4 Oct ober, following his visit wit h Dorot hy
t o France t o arrange mat t ers wit h Annet t e, Wordswort h married his childhood friend Mary
Hut chinson.[8] Dorot hy cont inued t o live wit h t he couple and grew close t o Mary. The following
year Mary gave birt h t o t he first of five children, t hree of whom predeceased her and William:

Rev. John Wordswort h MA (18 June 1803 – 25 July 1875). Vicar of Brigham, Cumberland and
Rect or of Plumbland, Cumberland. Buried at Highgat e Cemet ery (west side). Married four
t imes:[21]
1. Isabella Curwen (died 1848) had six children: Jane St anley, Henry, William, John, Charles
and Edward.
 1. Jane St anley (1833–1912), who married t he Rev. Bennet Sherard Kennedy (an
illegit imat e son of Robert Sherard, 6t h Earl of Harborough) and t heir son Robert
Harborough Sherard became first biographer t o his friend, Oscar Wilde.[22]

2. Helen Ross (died 1854). No children.

3. Mary Ann Dolan (died aft er 1858) had one daught er Dora.
1. Dora Wordswort h (1858–1934)[23]

4. Mary Gamble. No children.

Dora Wordswort h (16 August 1804 – 9 July 1847). Married Edward Quillinan in 1841.

Thomas Wordswort h (15 June 1806 – 1 December 1812).

Cat herine Wordswort h (6 Sept ember 1808 – 4 June 1812).

William "Willy" Wordswort h (12 May 1810 – 1883). Married Fanny Graham and had four children:
Mary Louisa, William, Reginald, Gordon

Later career

Autobiographical work and Poems, in Two Volumes E…

Wordswort h had for years been making plans t o writ e a long philosophical poem in t hree part s,
which he int ended t o call The Recluse.[24] In 1798–99 he st art ed an aut obiographical poem, which
he referred t o as t he "poem t o Coleridge" and which he planned would serve as an appendix t o a
larger work called The Recluse. In 1804 he began expanding t his aut obiographical work, having
decided t o make it a prologue rat her t han an appendix.[25] He complet ed t his work, now generally
referred t o as t he first version of The Prelude, in 1805, but refused t o publish such a personal
work unt il he had complet ed t he whole of The Recluse. The deat h of his brot her John, also in
1805, affect ed him st rongly and may have influenced his decisions about t hese works.[26]
Rydal Mount – home to Wordsworth 1813–1850. Hundreds of visitors came here to see him over the years

Wordswort h's philosophical allegiances as art iculat ed in The Prelude and in such short er works as
"Lines writ t en a few miles above Tint ern Abbey" have been a source of crit ical debat e. It was
long supposed t hat Wordswort h relied chiefly on Coleridge for philosophical guidance, but more
recent ly scholars have suggest ed t hat Wordswort h's ideas may have been formed years before
he and Coleridge became friends in t he mid-1790s. In part icular, while he was in revolut ionary
Paris in 1792, t he 22-year-old Wordswort h made t he acquaint ance of t he myst erious t raveller
John "Walking" St ewart (1747–1822),[27] who was nearing t he end of his t hirt y years of
wandering, on foot , from Madras, India, t hrough Persia and Arabia, across Africa and Europe, and
up t hrough t he fledgling Unit ed St at es. By t he t ime of t heir associat ion, St ewart had published
an ambit ious work of original mat erialist philosophy ent it led The Apocalypse of Nature (London,
1791), t o which many of Wordswort h's philosophical sent iment s may well be indebt ed.

In 1807 Wordswort h published Poems, in Two Volumes, including "Ode: Int imat ions of
Immort alit y from Recollect ions of Early Childhood". Up t o t his point , Wordswort h was known only
for Lyrical Ballads, and he hoped t hat t his new collect ion would cement his reput at ion. It s
recept ion was lukewarm, however.

In 1810, Wordswort h and Coleridge were est ranged over t he lat t er's opium addict ion,[8] and in
1812, his son Thomas died at t he age of 6, six mont hs aft er t he deat h of 3-year-old Cat herine.
The following year he received an appoint ment as Dist ribut or of St amps for West morland, and
t he st ipend of £400 a year made him financially secure, albeit at t he cost of polit ical
independence. In 1813, he and his family, including Dorot hy, moved t o Rydal Mount , Ambleside
(bet ween Grasmere and Rydal Wat er), where he spent t he rest of his life.[8]

The Prospectus E…

In 1814 Wordswort h published The Excursion as t he second part of t he t hree-part work The
Recluse, even t hough he never complet ed t he first part or t he t hird part . He did, however, writ e a
poet ic Prospect us t o The Recluse in which he laid out t he st ruct ure and int ent ion of t he whole
work. The Prospect us cont ains some of Wordswort h's most famous lines on t he relat ion
bet ween t he human mind and nat ure:
                       ... my voice proclaims
How exquisitely the individual Mind
(And the progressive powers perhaps no less
Of the whole species) to the external World
Is fitted:—and how exquisitely, too—
Theme this but little heard of among Men,
The external World is fitted to the Mind;
And the creation (by no lower name
Can it be called) which they with blended might
Accomplish ...[28]

Some modern crit ics[29] suggest t hat t here was a decline in his work beginning around t he mid-
1810s, perhaps because most of t he concerns t hat charact erised his early poems (loss, deat h,
endurance, separat ion and abandonment ) had been resolved in his writ ings and his life.[30] By 1820,
he was enjoying considerable success accompanying a reversal in t he cont emporary crit ical
opinion of his earlier works.

The poet William Blake, who knew of Wordswort h's work, was st ruck by Wordswort h's boldness in
cent ering his poet ry on t he human mind. In response t o Wordswort h's poet ic program t hat , “when
we look / Int o our Minds, int o t he Mind of Man- / My haunt , and t he main region of my song” (The
Excursion), William Blake wrot e t o his friend Henry Crabb Robinson t hat t he passage "“caused him
a bowel complaint which nearly killed him”.[31]

Following t he deat h of his friend t he paint er William Green in 1823, Wordswort h also mended his
relat ions wit h Coleridge.[32] The t wo were fully reconciled by 1828, when t hey t oured t he
Rhineland t oget her.[8] Dorot hy suffered from a severe illness in 1829 t hat rendered her an invalid
for t he remainder of her life. Coleridge and Charles Lamb bot h died in 1834, t heir loss being a
difficult blow t o Wordswort h. The following year saw t he passing of James Hogg. Despit e t he
deat h of many cont emporaries, t he popularit y of his poet ry ensured a st eady st ream of young
friends and admirers t o replace t hose he lost .

Religious and philosophical beliefs

Wordswort h's yout hful polit ical radicalism, unlike Coleridge's, never led him t o rebel against his
religious upbringing. He remarked in 1812 t hat he was willing t o shed his blood for t he est ablished
Church of England, reflect ed in his Ecclesiastical Sketches of 1822. This religious conservat ism
also colours The Excursion (1814), a long poem t hat became ext remely popular during t he
ninet eent h cent ury. It feat ures t hree cent ral charact ers: t he Wanderer; t he Solit ary, who has
experienced t he hopes and miseries of t he French Revolut ion; and t he Past or, who dominat es
t he last t hird of t he poem.[33]

Wordsworth's Poetic Philosophy E…

Behler[34] has point ed out t he fact t hat Wordswort h want ed t o invoke t he basic feeling t hat a
human heart possesses and expresses. He had reversed philosophical st and point t hat S. T.
Coleridge owns, 'creat ing t he charact ers in such an environment so t hat t he public feels t hem
belonging t o t he dist ant place and t ime'. And it is t rue t hat t he philosophical realizat ion by William
Wordswort h let him choose t he language and st ruct ural pat t erning of t he poet ry t hat a common
man uses every day.[35] Kurland expresses t hat t he conversat ional aspect of a language emerges
t hrough social necessit y.[36] Social necessit y posit s t he t heme of possessing t he proper
knowledge, int erest and biases also among t he speakers. William Wordswort h has used
conversat ion in his poet ry t o let t he poet 'I' merge int o 'We'. The poem "Farewell" (ht t ps://allpoet
ry.com/A-Farewell) exposes t he ident ical emot ion t hat t he poet and his sist er nourish:

"We leave you here in solit ude t o dwell/ Wit h t hese our lat est gift s of t ender t hought ;

Thou, like t he morning, in t hy saffron coat ,/ Bright gowan, and marsh-marigold, farewell!" (L.19-
22).

Such kind of conversat ional t one persist s all t hrough t he poet ic journey of t he poet , t hat
posit ions him as a man in t he societ y who speaks t o t he purpose of communion wit h t he very
common mass of t he societ y.[37] Again; "Preface to Lyrical Ballads" [1] (https://web.english.upen
n.edu/~jenglish/Courses/Spring2001/040/preface1802.html) is t he evidence where t he poet
expresses why he is writ ing and what he is writ ing and what purpose it will serve t o t he humanit y.

Laureateship and other honours

Wordswort h remained a formidable presence in his lat er years. In 1837, t he Scot t ish poet and
playwright Joanna Baillie reflect ed on her long acquaint ance wit h Wordswort h. "He looks like a
man t hat one must not speak t o unless one has some sensible t hing t o say. However he does
occasionally converse cheerfully & well; and when one knows how benevolent & excellent he is,
it disposes one t o be very much pleased wit h him."[38]
In 1838, Wordswort h received an honorary doct orat e in Civil Law from t he Universit y of Durham
and t he following year he was awarded t he same honorary degree by t he Universit y of Oxford,
when John Keble praised him as t he "poet of humanit y", praise great ly appreciat ed by
Wordswort h.[8][39] (It has been argued t hat Wordswort h was a great influence on Keble's
immensely popular book of devot ional poet ry, The Christian Year (1827).[40]) In 1842, t he
government awarded him a Civil List pension of £300 a year.

Following t he deat h of Robert Sout hey in 1843 Wordswort h became Poet Laureat e. He init ially
refused t he honour, saying t hat he was t oo old, but accept ed when t he Prime Minist er, Robert
Peel, assured him t hat "you shall have not hing required of you". Wordswort h t hus became t he only
poet laureat e t o writ e no official verses. The sudden deat h of his daught er Dora in 1847 at age
42 was difficult for t he aging poet t o t ake and in his depression, he complet ely gave up writ ing
new mat erial.

Death

Gravestone of William Wordsworth, Grasmere, Cumbria

William Wordswort h died at home at Rydal Mount from an aggravat ed case of pleurisy on 23 April
1850,[41][42] and was buried at St Oswald's Church, Grasmere. His widow, Mary, published his
lengt hy aut obiographical "Poem t o Coleridge" as The Prelude several mont hs aft er his deat h.[43]
Though it failed t o int erest people at t he t ime, it has since come t o be widely recognised as his
mast erpiece.
In popular culture

Composer Alicia Van Buren (1860–1922) used t ext by Wordswort h for her song "In Early
Spring".[44]

Ken Russell's 1978 film William and Dorothy port rays t he relat ionship bet ween William and his
sist er Dorot hy.[45]

Wordswort h and Coleridge's friendship is examined by Julien Temple in his 2000 film
Pandaemonium.[46]

Wordswort h has appeared as a charact er in works of fict ion, including:

William Kinsolving – Mister Christian. 1996

Jasper Fforde – The Eyre Affair. 2001

Val McDermid – The Grave Tattoo. 2006

Sue Limb – The Wordsmiths at Gorsemere. 2008

Isaac Asimov's 1966 novelisat ion of t he 1966 film Fantastic Voyage sees Dr. Pet er Duval quot ing
Wordswort h's The Prelude as t he miniat urised submarine sails t hrough t he cerebral fluid
surrounding a human brain, comparing it t o t he "st range seas of t hought ".

Taylor Swift 's 2020 album Folklore ment ions Wordswort h in her bonus t rack "The Lakes", which is
t hought t o be about t he Lake Dist rict .[47]

Commemoration

In April 2020, t he Royal Mail issued a series of post age st amps t o mark t he 250t h anniversary of
t he birt h of Wordswort h. Ten 1st class st amps were issued, feat uring Wordswort h and all t he
major Brit ish Romant ic poet s, including William Blake, John Keat s, Lord Byron, Samuel Taylor
Coleridge, Percy Bysshe Shelley and Walt er Scot t . Each st amp included an ext ract from one of
t heir most popular and enduring works, wit h Wordswort h's "The Rainbow" select ed for t he
poet .[48]

Major works

Lyrical Ballads, with a Few Other Poems (1798)

 "Simon Lee"

"We are Seven"

"Lines Writ t en in Early Spring"

"Expost ulat ion and Reply"

"The Tables Turned"

"The Thorn"

"Lines Composed A Few Miles above Tint ern Abbey"

Lyrical Ballads, with Other Poems (1800)

Preface t o t he Lyrical Ballads

"St range fit s of passion have I known"[49]

"She Dwelt among t he Unt rodden Ways"[49]

"Three years she grew"[49]

"A Slumber Did my Spirit Seal"[49]

"I t ravelled among unknown men"[49]

"Lucy Gray"

"The Two April Mornings"

"Nut t ing"

"The Ruined Cot t age"

"Michael"

"The Kit t en at Play"

 Poems, in Two Volumes (1807)
"Resolut ion and Independence"

"I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud" Also known as "Daffodils"

"My Heart Leaps Up"

"Ode: Int imat ions of Immort alit y"

"Ode t o Dut y"

"The Solit ary Reaper"

"Elegiac St anzas"

"Composed upon West minst er Bridge, Sept ember 3, 1802"

"London, 1802"

"The World Is Too Much wit h Us"

"French Revolut ion" (1810)[50]

Guide to the Lakes (1810)

"To t he Cuckoo"

The Excursion (1814)

Laodamia (1815, 1845)

The White Doe of Rylstone (1815)

Peter Bell (1819)

Ecclesiastical Sonnets (1822)

The Prelude (1850)

References

1. Historic England. "Wordsworth House (1327088)" (https://HistoricEngland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-e

ntry/1327088) . National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 21 December 2009.

2. Allport, Denison Howard; Friskney, Norman J. (1986). "Appendix A (Past Governors)". A Short History
of Wilson's School (https://books.google.com/books?id=iyQxGwAACAAJ) . Wilson's School
Charitable Trust.

3. Moorman 1968 pp. 5–7.

 4. Moorman 1968:9–13.

5. Moorman 1968:15–18.

. "Wordsworth, William (WRDT787W)" (http://venn.lib.cam.ac.uk/cgi-bin/search-2018.pl?sur=&suro=w&

fir=&firo=c&cit=&cito=c&c=all&z=all&tex=WRDT787W&sye=&eye=&col=all&maxcount=50) . A
Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.

7. Andrew Bennett (12 February 2015). William Wordsworth in Context (https://books.google.com/book

s?id=XPtDBgAAQBAJ&pg=PA191) . Cambridge University Press. p. 191. ISBN 978-1-107-02841-8.

. Everett, Glenn, "William Wordsworth: Biography" (http://www.victorianweb.org/previctorian/ww/bio.h

tml) at The Victorian Web, accessed 7 January 2007.

9. Gill (1989) Pp. 208, 299

10. "Purchasing Power of British Pounds from 1245 to Present" (http://www.measuringworth.com/calcula

tors/ppoweruk/) . MeasuringWorth.com. Retrieved 28 May 2012.

11. "The Cornell Wordsworth Collection (http://rmc.library.cornell.edu/collections/wordsworth.html) ".

Cornell University. Retrieved 13 February 2009.

12. Roland Gant (1980). Dorset Villages. Robert Hale Ltd. pp. 111–112. ISBN 0-7091-8135-3.

13. Lyricall Ballads: With a Few Other Poems (https://archive.org/details/lyricalballadswi00word)

(1 ed.). London: J. & A. Arch. 1798. Retrieved 13 November 2014. via archive.org

14. Wordsworth, William (1800). Lyrical Ballads with Other Poems (https://archive.org/details/lyricalballad
swi04word) . Vol. I (2 ed.). London: Printed for T.N. Longman and O. Rees. Retrieved 13 November
2014.; Wordsworth, William (1800). Lyrical Ballads with Other Poems (https://archive.org/details/lyrica
lballadswi03word) . Vol. II (2 ed.). London: Printed for T.N. Longman and O. Rees. Retrieved
13 November 2014. via archive.org

15. Wordsworth, William (1802). Lyrical Ballads with Pastoral and other Poems (https://archive.org/detail
s/lyricalballadsw01colegoog) . Vol. I (3 ed.). London: Printed for T.N. Longman and O. Rees.
Retrieved 13 November 2014. via archive.org.

1 . Wordsworth, William (1805). Lyrical Ballads with Pastoral and other Poems (https://archive.org/detail
s/lyricalballadsi00neilgoog) . Vol. I (4 ed.). London: Printed for Longman, Hurst, Rees, and Orme, by
R. Taylor. Retrieved 13 November 2014. via archive.org.

17. Stephen Gill, William Wordsworth: A Life, Oxford University Press, 1989, pp. 132–133.
1 . A Library of Poetry and Song: Being Choice Selections from The Best Poets. With An Introduction by
William Cullen Bryant (https://books.google.com/books?id=kXd4bRr71a4C&pg=PA442&dq=A+Library
+of+Poetry+and+Song:+Being+Choice+Selections+from+the+Best+Poets+William+Wordsworth+engl
and&hl=en&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwja--Pnno_wAhVliIsKHbcZDGkQ6AEwAH
oECAIQAg#v=onepage&q=A%20Library%20of%20Poetry%20and%20Song%3A%20Being%20Choice%2
0Selections%20from%20the%20Best%20Poets%20William%20Wordsworth%20england&f=false) ,
New York, J.B. Ford and Company, 1871, p. 442.

19. Recollections of the Lake Poets.

20. Moorman 1968 p. 8

21. Ward, John Powell (1 March 2005). "Wordsworth's Eldest Son: John Wordsworth and the Intimations
Ode" (https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/abs/10.1086/TWC24045111?journalCode=twc) . The
Wordsworth Circle. 36 (2): 66–80. doi:10.1086/TWC24045111 (https://doi.org/10.1086%2FTWC240
45111) . S2CID 159651742 (https://api.semanticscholar.org/CorpusID:159651742) . Retrieved
14 September 2021.

22. Hanberry, Gerard (29 September 2011). More Lives Than One (https://www.google.com/books/editio
n/More_Lives_Than_One/1QiWDwAAQBAJ) . Gill & Macmillan Ltd. p. 29. ISBN 978-1-84889-943-8.
Retrieved 14 September 2021.

23. "Wordsworth mss. II, 1848-1909" (https://archives.iu.edu/catalog/InU-Li-VAD0997) . archives.iu.edu.

Archives Online at Indiana University. Retrieved 14 September 2021.

24. "William Wordsworth | The Asian Age Online, Bangladesh" (http://dailyasianage.com/news/118185/?r

egenerate) . The Asian Age. Retrieved 23 June 2022.

25. "William Wordsworth - English History" (https://englishhistory.net/poets/william-wordsworth/) . 18

November 2021. Retrieved 23 June 2022.

2 . O&#39, John; Meara (1 January 2011). "This Life, This Death: Wordsworth's Poetic Destiny" (https://w
ww.academia.edu/38066667) . IUniverse, Bloomington IN.

27. Kelly Grovier, "Dream Walker: A Wordsworth Mystery Solved", Times Literary Supplement, 16 February
2007

2 . Poetical Works. Oxford Standard Authors. London: Oxford U.P. 1936. p. 590.

29. Hartman, Geoffrey (1987). Wordsworth's Poetry, 1787–1814. New Haven: Yale University Press.
pp. 329–331. ISBN 9780674958210.

30. Already in 1891 James Kenneth Stephen wrote satirically of Wordsworth having "two voices": one is
"of the deep", the other "of an old half-witted sheep/Which bleats articulate monotony".

31. Abrams, M.H. (1971). Natural Supernaturalism: Tradition and Revolution in Romantic Literature.
Norton. p. 24.

32. Sylvanus Urban, The Gentleman's Magazine, 1823

33. "Wordsworth's Religion" (http://www.victorianweb.org/previctorian/ww/religion1.html) .
www.victorianweb.org.

34. BEHLER, ERNST (1968). "The Origins of the Romantic Literary Theory" (https://www.jstor.org/stable/2
3979800) . Colloquia Germanica. 2: 109–126. ISSN 0010-1338 (https://www.worldcat.org/issn/0010
-1338) . JSTOR 23979800 (https://www.jstor.org/stable/23979800) .

35. Doolittle, James (1 December 1969). "The Demonic Imagination: Style and Theme in French Romantic
Poetry" (https://dx.doi.org/10.1215/00267929-30-4-615) . Modern Language Quarterly. 30 (4): 615–
617. doi:10.1215/00267929-30-4-615 (https://doi.org/10.1215%2F00267929-30-4-615) . ISSN 0026-
7929 (https://www.worldcat.org/issn/0026-7929) .

3 . "Dan Kurland's www.criticalreading.com -- Strategies for Critical Reading and Writing" (http://www.criti
calreading.com/) . www.criticalreading.com. Retrieved 23 June 2022.

37. Ahmed, Sheikh Saifullah (1 January 2020). "The Sociolinguistic Perspectives of the Stylistic Liberation
of Wordsworth" (https://www.academia.edu/44328447) . Sparkling International Journal of
Multidisciplinary Research Studies.

3 . Baillie, Joanna (2010). Thomas McLean (ed.). Further Letters of Joanna Baillie (https://books.google.c
om/books?id=17xLwZQppO4C&pg=PA22) . Madison, NJ: Fairleigh Dickinson University Press.
p. 181. ISBN 978-0-8386-4149-1.

39. Gill, pp396-7

40. "The Religious Influence of the Romantic Poets" (http://www.victorianweb.org/religion/herb4.html#

ww1) .

41. "Poet Laureate" (http://www.royal.gov.uk/TheRoyalHousehold/OfficialRoyalposts/PoetLaureate.asp

x) , The British Monarchy official website.

42. Stephen Gill, William Wordsworth: A Life, Oxford University Press, 1989, pp. 422–3.

43. e g Dorothy Wordsworth's Journal 26 December 1801

44. "Collection: Papers of Alicia Keisker Van Buren, 1889–1915 | HOLLIS for" (https://hollisarchives.lib.har
vard.edu/repositories/8/resources/5724/collection_organization) . hollisarchives.lib.harvard.edu.
Retrieved 18 April 2021.

45. "William and Dorothy (1978)" (https://www2.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b6a6847c8) . BFI.

Retrieved 4 August 2021.

4 . Van Gelder, Lawrence (13 July 2001). "FILM IN REVIEW; 'Pandaemonium' " (https://www.nytimes.com/
2001/07/13/movies/film-in-review-pandaemonium.html) . The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331 (htt
ps://www.worldcat.org/issn/0362-4331) . Retrieved 4 August 2021.

47. "Taylor Swift dedicates Folklore song to the Lake District" (https://www.bbc.co.uk/newsround/5375
2617) . BBC. 12 August 2020.
4 . "New stamps issued on 250th anniversary of William Wordsworth's birth" (https://www.itv.com/news/
2020-04-07/new-stamps-issued-on-250th-anniversary-of-william-wordsworths-birth) . ITV. Retrieved
1 October 2022.

49. M. H. Abrams, editor of The Norton Anthology of English Literature: The Romantic Period, writes of
these five poems: "This and the four following pieces are often grouped by editors as the 'Lucy poems,'
even though 'A slumber did my spirit seal' does not identify the 'she' who is the subject of that poem.
All but the last were written in 1799, while Wordsworth and his sister were in Germany, and homesick.
There has been diligent speculation about the identity of Lucy, but it remains speculation. The one
certainty is that she is not the girl of Wordsworth's 'Lucy Gray'" (Abrams 2000).

50. Wordsworth, William (4 January 1810). "French Revolution" (https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Poems_(W

ordsworth,_1815)/Volume_2/French_Revolution) . The Friend. No. 20. Retrieved 8 June 2018.

Further reading

poetry portal

Juliet Barker. Wordsworth: A Life, HarperCollins, New York, 2000, ISBN 978-0060787318

Jeffrey Cox, William Wordsworth, Second-Generation Romantic: Contesting Poetry After

Waterloo, 2021, ISBN 978-1108837613

Hunt er Davies, William Wordsworth: A Biography, Frances Lincoln, London, 2009, ISBN 978-0-
7112-3045-3

St ephen Gill, William Wordsworth: A Life, Oxford Universit y Press, 1989, ISBN 978-
0192827470

Emma Mason, The Cambridge Introduction to William Wordsworth (Cambridge Universit y

Press, 2010)

Mint o, William; Chisholm, Hugh (1911). "Wordswort h, William"  (ht t ps://en.wikisource.org/wiki/19

11_ Encyclop%C3%A6dia_ Brit annica/Wordswort h,_ William) . In Chisholm, Hugh (ed.).
Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 28 (11t h ed.). Cambridge Universit y Press. pp. 826–831.

Mary Moorman, William Wordsworth, A Biography: The Early Years, 1770–1803 v. 1, Oxford
Universit y Press, 1957, ISBN 978-0198115656

Mary Moorman, William Wordsworth: A Biography: The Later Years, 1803–1850 v. 2, Oxford
Universit y Press, 1965, ISBN 978-0198116172

M. R. Tewari, One Interior Life—A Study of the Nature of Wordsworth's Poetic Experience (New
Delhi: S. Chand & Company Lt d, 1983)
 Report to Wordsworth, Writ t en by Boey Kim Cheng, as a direct reference t o his poems
"Composed Upon West minst er Bridge" and "The World Is Too Much wit h Us"

Daniel Robinson, The Oxford Handbook of William Wordsworth, Oxford Universit y Press, 2015,
ISBN 9780199662128

External links

William Wordsworth
at Wikipedia's sister projects

Media from Commons

Quotations from Wikiquote

Texts from Wikisource

Resources from Wikiversity

Int ernet archive of Volume 1 of Christ opher Wordswort h's 1851 biography (ht t ps://archive.org/
det ails/memoirswilliamw00unkngoog)

Int ernet archive of Volume 2 of Christ opher Wordswort h's 1851 biography (ht t ps://archive.org/
det ails/memoirsofwilliam02word2)

Works by William Wordswort h (ht t ps://www.gut enberg.org/aut hor/Wordswort h,+William) at

Project Gut enberg

Works by or about William Wordswort h (ht t ps://archive.org/search.php?query=%28%28subjec

t %3A%22Wordswort h%2C%20William%22%20OR%20subject %3A%22William%20Wordswort h%
22%20OR%20creat or%3A%22Wordswort h%2C%20William%22%20OR%20creat or%3A%22Willia
m%20Wordswort h%22%20OR%20creat or%3A%22Wordswort h%2C%20W%2E%22%20OR%20t i
t le%3A%22William%20Wordswort h%22%20OR%20descript ion%3A%22Wordswort h%2C%20Wil
liam%22%20OR%20descript ion%3A%22William%20Wordswort h%22%29%20OR%20%28%2217
70-1850%22%20AND%20Wordswort h%29%29%20AND%20%28-mediat ype:soft ware%29) at
Int ernet Archive

Works by William Wordswort h (ht t ps://librivox.org/aut hor/1639) at LibriVox (public domain

audiobooks)

William Wordswort h Collect ion. General Collect ion, Beinecke Rare Book andManuscript Library,
Yale Universit y.
 Court offices

Succeeded by
Preceded by British Poet Laureate
Alf red
Robert Southey 1843–1850
Tennyson

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