William Wordsworth

1770 - 1850 *

English poet of the Romantic movement

Son of an attorney and born at Cockermouth, in Cumbria. Wordsworth attended an infant school in Penrith, and later attended Hawkshead Grammar School from 1779 to 1787. His work The Prelude records his mixed joys and terrors of his childhood in the country, together with the death of his mother in 1778, and father in 1783.

          Source: Classics Network Editorial Team

British poet, who spent his life in the Lake District of Northern England. Wordsworth started with Samuel Taylor Coleridge the English Romantic movement with their collection LYRICAL BALLADS in 1798. When many poets still wrote about ancient heroes in grandiloquent style, Wordsworth focused on the nature, children, the poor, common people, and used ordinary words to express his personal feelings. His definition of poetry as "the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings arising from "emotion recollected in tranquillity" was shared by a number of his followers.

"Poetry is the br... [read entire biography]

          Source: Petri Liukkonen

These essays offer analysis of the author's life and works. Many of them have been submitted by users, and are assigned an Editorial Rating on a scale from one to five stars to assist you in evaluating their worth. See also: Note on Essays, Editorial Policy.

     

English Romantic Poets and Slave Trade: Mind Forg'd Manacles -- A social and political perspective on the works of Wordsworth, Coleridge, Keats, Byron, Shelley, and Blake.
By Natasa Bakic, Doctorate Student	Editorial Rating:

Wordsworth's Daffodils Reconsidered -- "I wandered Lonely as a Cloud2 Viewed in Various Perspectives
By Julian Scutts, Student	Editorial Rating:

Wordsworth's "Tintern Abbey" -- Critical analysis of Wordsworth's Tintern Abbey.
By ches,	Editorial Rating:

Romantic Poetic Principles -- Wordsworth's poetics in The Preface
By Jackie Leslie, Student	Editorial Rating:

romantic period -- characteristics of romantic perion
By seda beyenal, Student	Editorial Rating:

Novelties in Simon Lee -- Novelties in romantic period applied on a Simon Lee
By seda beyenal, Student	Editorial Rating:

     

Miscellaneous

		Wordsworth's Revolution in Poetic Language -- an article by Keith Hanley on Lyrical Ballads, as part of Romanticism on the Net http://users.ox.ac.uk/~scat0385/revoluti... Editorial Rating: Number of Visitors: 1346 2 users have rated it an average of 2.5 stars     [rate it] Emotion and Cognition in The Prelude -- an essay from Romanticism On the Net http://www-sul.stanford.edu/mirrors/romn... Editorial Rating: Number of Visitors: 1116 4 users have rated it an average of 1.75 stars     [rate it] 'The Words He Uttered...': A Reading of Wordsworth -- an interesting reading of Wordsworth's poetry, from Romanticism On the Net http://www-sul.stanford.edu/mirrors/romn... Editorial Rating: Number of Visitors: 996 3 users have rated it an average of 3.33 stars     [rate it] Criticism of Wordworth's The Prelude -- useful list of secondary resources for the most discussed passages of The Prelude, as well as background and historical information http://miavx1.muohio.edu/~mandellc/prelh... Editorial Rating: Number of Visitors: 1968 2 users have rated it an average of 5 stars     [rate it] University of Toronto - Wordsworth Introduction -- some notes on Wordsworth's poetic theory http://citd.scar.utoronto.ca/English/ENG... Editorial Rating: Number of Visitors: 974 4 users have rated it an average of 3.75 stars     [rate it]

     

Oh, be wiser thou!
Instructed that true knowledge leads to love. -- Lines left upon a Seat in a Yew-tree.

William Wordsworth

And homeless near a thousand homes I stood,
And near a thousand tables pined and wanted food. -- Guilt and Sorrow. Stanza 41.

William Wordsworth

Action is transitory,--a step, a blow;
The motion of a muscle, this way or that. -- The Borderers. Act iii.

William Wordsworth

Three sleepless nights I passed in sounding on,
Through words and things, a dim and perilous way. -- The Borderers. Act iv. Sc. 2.

William Wordsworth

A simple child
That lightly draws its breath,
And feels its life in every limb,
What should it know of death? -- We are Seven.

William Wordsworth

O Reader! had you in your mind
Such stores as silent thought can bring,
O gentle Reader! you would find
A tale in everything. -- Simon Lee.

William Wordsworth

I 've heard of hearts unkind, kind deeds
With coldness still returning;
Alas! the gratitude of men
Hath oftener left me mourning. -- Simon Lee.

William Wordsworth

In that sweet mood when pleasant thoughts
Bring sad thoughts to the mind. -- Lines written in Early Spring.

William Wordsworth

And 't is my faith, that every flower
Enjoys the air it breathes. -- Lines written in Early Spring.

William Wordsworth

Nor less I deem that there are Powers
Which of themselves our minds impress;
That we can feed this mind of ours
In a wise passiveness. -- Expostulation and Reply.

William Wordsworth

More quotes by this author are available...

Additional searches

Wordsworth at Encarta Encyclopedia

Wordsworth at Britannica Encyclopedia

Wordsworth at Xrefer.com