Who Was�William�Wordsworth?

By

Dr.Ramnita Sharda

 "Our birth is but a sleep and a forgetting: �The soul that rises with us, our life's star, �Hath had elsewhere its setting, �And cometh from afar. �Not in entire forgetfulness, �And not in utter nakedness, �But trailing clouds of glory, do we come �From God, who is our home." �

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From Intimations of Immortality

Where It All Began

William Wordsworth was born on April 17, 1770, just outside the Lake District in the quaint market town of Cockermouth, Cumbria. His popularity as a poet draws thousands of tourists to this northwestern England city every year.

The Wordsworth House

Today, Wordsworth’s childhood home is a popular tourist attraction. The fine Georgian home has been restored and refurnished to its original 18^th century beauty. Visit http://www.wordsworthhouse.org.uk/ to take an online tour of the Wordsworth House.

The Wordsworth House

Wordsworth refers to his home at Cockermouth in his poem, Guilt and Sorrow:

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"A little croft we owned - a plot of corn, �A garden stored with peas, and mint, and thyme, �And flowers for poises, oft on Sunday morn �Plucked while the church bells rang their earliest chime.�Can I forget our freaks at shearing time! �My hen's rich nest through long grass scarce espied; �The cowslip-gathering in June's dewy prime; �The swans that with white chests upreared in pride �Rushing and racing came to meet me at the waterside."

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Wordsworth in Nature

The beautiful landscape of the Lake District inspired the young Wordsworth; nature is a common theme that can be found in many of his poems.

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;

I could wish my days to be

Bound each to each by natural piety.

William Wordsworth

The Wordsworth Household

William was the second of five children.

After his mother’s death in 1778, he was sent

to Hawkshead Grammar School; this is where

his love for poetry was first established. Five

years later, his father died.

Wordsworth & the “Common Man”

In 1790, Wordsworth quit school at St.

John’s in Cambridge to partake in a walking

tour of Europe. This experience heightened

Wordsworth's interest in the life, troubles

and speech of the "common man,” which is

another common theme in his works.

Early Works

In 1793, Wordsworth’s first works, An Evening Walk

and Descriptive Sketches, were published but

received little notice.

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“Where, bosom'd deep, the shy Winander peeps�Mid' clust'ring isles, and holly-sprinkl'd steeps;�Where twilight glens endear my Esthwaite's shore,�And memory of departed pleasures, more.”

From An Evening Walk

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“We Were Three Persons With One Soul.” �

In 1794,

Wordsworth was

reunited with his

sister, Dorothy;

shortly after, he met another poet, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, and

they became close friends.

Lyrical Ballads

Wordsworth and Coleridge saw the poetry of

the Neo-classical period as stale and un-

relatable to the public. The two

Poets initiated the Romantic

era with their collaborative

creation, Lyrical Ballads,

Which contained old forms

and new subjects.

Lyrical Ballads

Old forms brought

back to poetry:

The Nursery Rhyme 

Biblical/Scriptural

The popular ballad

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New subjects for

poetry:

Children and women

Common folks and peasants

Psychological aberrations and altered mental states

Idiocy and madness

The nature and purpose of poetry itself

The Gothic 

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Lyrical Ballads

--From Coleridge’s poem, The Rime of the Ancient Mariner

“God save thee, ancient Mariner!

From the fiends, that plague thee thus!—

Why look'st thou so?—With my crossbow

I shot the Albatross.”

“For I have learned

To look on nature, not as in the hour

Of thoughtless youth; but hearing oftentimes

The still, sad music of humanity,

Nor harsh nor grating, though of ample power

To chasten and subdue.”

--From Wordsworth’s poem, “Tintern Abbey”

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Quote from Lyrical Ballads

"Poetry is the breath and finer

spirit of all knowledge; it is the

impassioned expression which is in

the countenance of all Science.“

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William Wordsworth

Dove Cottage

Wordsworth and his

family called this

place home from

1799 to 1807; it is

another main tourist

attraction in

Cumbria.

Mr. and Mrs. Wordsworth

In 1802,

Wordsworth

married Mary

Hutchinson in the

Brompton Church.

She was the

inspiration for his

poem, “She Was A

Phantom of Delight.”

“She was a Phantom of delight

When first she gleamed upon my sight;

A lovely Apparition, sent

To be a moment's ornament;

Her eyes as stars of Twilight fair;

Like Twilight's, too, her dusky hair;”�

Wordsworth in Sorrow

By 1810, they had

five children;

however, two of

their deaths in

1812 caused

Wordsworth great

sorrow. His poem,

“Surprised By

Joy,” reflects his

anguish.

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“…That thought's return

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Was the worst pang that sorrow ever bore,

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Save one, one only, when I stood forlorn,

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Knowing my heart's best treasure was no more;

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That neither present time, nor years unborn

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Could to my sight that heavenly face restore.”

Rydal Mount and Beyond

Shortly after, Wordsworth and

his family settled at Rydal Mount

where he continued to write

poetry for the remainder of his

life. In 1843, he became

England’s poet laureate.

He died on April 23, 1850, and

is buried at St Oswald's Church

in Grasmere.

Conclusion

It was Wordsworth's emotional power, rather than

his range of intellect, that made him famous and

influential. He defined poetry as "the spontaneous

overflow of powerful feelings arising from "emotion

recollected in tranquility." To him, poetry was an

overflowing of emotion onto paper backed up by

the refusal to conform to the “rules” of society. This

belief, along with his inspirations, allowed his

talent and emotions to run free.