Product Description

One of the most enduringly popular of the Romantic poets, William Wordsworth epitomized the spirit of his age with his celebration of the natural world and his belief in the importance of feeling. This volume brings together a rich selection from the most creative period of Wordsworth’s life— from "Tintern Abbey," an ode on the restorative powers of nature written during his intense friendship with Coleridge, to excerpts from his epic autobiographical poem, The Prelude. Also included are much-loved short works such as "I wandered as lonely as a Cloud," "Composed Upon Westminster Bridge," and the poignant "Lucy Gray." These poems demonstrate Wordsworth’s astonishing range, power, and inventiveness, and the sustained and captivating vision that informed his work.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #485254 in Books
• Published on: 2005-03-29
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 352 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9780140424423
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
• Click here to view our Condition Guide and Shipping Prices

About the Author
William Wordsworth (1770–1850) was a major English Romantic poet known for his lyric verse. He was made poet laureate of England in 1843.

Stephen Gill is professor of English literature at Oxford University, a fellow of Lincoln College, Oxford, and a member of the Wordsworth Trust. He is the author of William Wordsworth: A Life and Wordsworth and the Victorians.

Christopher Ricks is professor of humanities at Boston University and most recently author of Dylan’s Visions of Sin.

Customer Reviews

Ah, Wordsworth!
As any fan of poetry will admit, Wordsworth is perhaps the central figure of poetry of the last two hundred years-- only Whitman contends with him in eminence. I love both (though I am partial to Keats!), and the fame of each is very just and in proportion with their merits.

Wordsworth is a musical poet, in that his verse flows with a beauty of language that has no rival I have yet encountered save perhaps Yeats or Shakespeare. Even the latter two, though better poets than Wordsworth overall in my opinion, fall slightly short of his music. I find many of his poems very easy to commit to memory, because of this quality:

She dwelt among th'untrodden ways
Beside the springs of Dove.
A maid whom there were none the praise
And very few to love.

A violet by a mossy stone
Half hidden from the eye--
Fair, as a star when only one
Is shining in the sky.

She lived unknown and few could know
When Lucy ceased to be;
But she is in her grave, and Oh!
The difference to me.

That is from memory, and I memorized it almost effortlessly; I suspect most can do the same because this poem (one of Wordsworth's "Lucy Poems", some of the best in all literature!) has a certain rhythm and flow to it that makes it as easily committed to memory as song lyrics.

There is in Wordsworth's poems a wonderful depth of thought, as well; common themes include lost youth, nature, and the poet's own mind (Wordsworth was notoriously egotistical). I find him a sadder poet than others do-- many read him as almost superficial or happy and joyous in nature, but I think this is too simplistic, as his poems resonate with a certain loss and regretful inwardness that really reverberates in my mind.

He is commonly considered the greatest of the Romantics, a consensus with which I disagree. I prefer Keats and Blake (Coleridge might have been as good, had he written more!), but Wordsworth has been more of an influence on later poets than either, and I certainly do not shy from calling him among the greatest.