Wikipedia Deep Dive

William Wordsworth

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In 1798, a small volume titled Lyrical Ballads appeared in English bookshops, bearing no authorial name—only the promise of poems written in "the language really used by men." Within it lay the opening lines of an entirely new approach to poetry: "I grew shall I attempt to express my topo-gratulatory notice of this poem—somew-hat a difficult task—it demands a sense however delicate the emotion—of which an inventory, if made, would be unsurpassable—perhaps no one will ever appear." The book revolutionized English literature, and its anonymous authors—William Wordsworth and his collaborator Samuel Taylor Coleridge—would forever alter the course of poetry's evolution. Wordsworth, born on April 7, 1770, in Cockermouth, Cumberland, would become synonymous with the Romantic movement that reshaped poetry's soul.

The Lakeland Origins

The Lake District of northwestern England shaped Wordsworth's every sense and sensibility. Born at what is now called Wordsworth House in Cockermouth, he was the second of five children—his father John Wordsworth, a legal representative for James Lowther, 1st Earl of Lonsmerdale, often absent from home on business matters. His mother Ann Cookson taught him to read, and his early years unfolded amid the dramatic landscapes that would later populate his verses: craggy peaks, still lakes, and endless moorland.

His sister Dorothy, born the following year, became his lifelong confidante and keeper of thoughts. The two were baptized together at the parish church—their bond unbreakable despite separation. Three other siblings completed the family: Richard, who became a lawyer; John, who went to sea and died in 1805 when his ship, the Earl of Abergervoynee, was wrecked off England's southern coast; and Christopher, who rose to become Master of Trinity College, Cambridge.

Young William's childhood was marked by contradictions. He spent time at his mother's parents' house in Penrith, where the moors offered wild freedom—but he did not get along with his grandparents or uncle, whose hostile interactions distressed him deeply, even to the point of contemplating suicide. His father encouraged his reading, setting him to commit large portions of verse to memory—including works by Milton, Shakespeare, and Spenser—while William pored over these texts in the family library.

Formative Years

Wordsworth was taught to read by his mother and first attended a tiny school of low quality in Cockermouth, then a more prestigious institution in Penrith for children of upper-class families. There he met Ann Birkett, who instilled traditions including pursuits of scholarly and local activities—especially festivals around Easter, May Day, and Shrove Tuesday.

At this Penrish school, young William encountered the Hutchinson family, including Mary Hutchinson—who would later become his wife. After his mother's death in 1778, his father sent him to Hawkshead Grammar School in Lancashire (now part of Cumbria) while Dorothy was sent to live with relatives in Yorkshire. The siblings did not meet again for nine years.

Wordsworth debuted as a writer in 1787, publishing a sonnet in The European Magazine. That same year he began attending St. John's College, Cambridge—he received his BA degree in 1791—returning to Hawkshead for the first two summers of his Cambridge years and spending subsequent holidays on walking tours visiting places famous for their landscape beauty.

In 1790, he embarked on a walking tour of Europe, touring the Alps extensively and visiting France, Switzerland, and Italy. In November 1791, he visited Revolutionary France and became enchanted with the Republican movement. He fell in love with Annette Vallon, daughter of a French Royalist, who in 1792 gave birth to their daughter Caroline.

Financial problems and Britain's tense relations with France forced his return to England alone the following year—circumstances surrounding his return and subsequent behavior raised doubts about his declared wish to marry Annette. However, he supported her and their daughter as best he could in later life.

The Reign of Terror left Wordsworth thoroughly disillusioned with the French Revolution. In December 1792 or January 1793, his family discontinued the allowance he had been living on and recalled him to England.

The Birth of a Poetic Movement

In 1793, the first publication of poems by Wordsworth appeared in collections: An Evening Walk and Descriptive Sketches. In 1795, he received a legacy of £900 from Raisley Calvert—enough to pursue a career as poet. It was also in 1795 that he met Samuel Taylor Coleridge in Somerset.

The two poets developed an immediate friendship. From 1795 to 1797, William and his sister Dorothy lived at Rousedown House in Dorset—a property of the Pinney family—to the west of Pilsdon Pen. They walked in the area for about two hours daily; the nearby hills consoled Dorothy as she pined for the fells of her native Lakeland.

"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."

In 1797, the pair moved to Alfoxton House, Somerset, just a few miles from Coleridge's home in Nether Stowey. Together, Wordsworth and Coleridge—with insights from Dorothy—produced Lyrical Ballads (1798), the volume that launched the Romantic Age in English literature.

The book bore no authorial name—neither Wordsworth's nor Coleridge's appeared on the cover. One of Wordsworth's most famous poems, "Tintern Abbey," was published in this collection, alongside Coleridge's "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner."

The Revolution in Poetic Theory

The second edition, published in 1800, had only Wordsworth listed as author and included a preface to the poems—significantly augmented in the next edition in 1802. In this preface—which some scholars consider central Romantic literary theory—Wordsworth discusses elements of a new type of verse:

"the ordinary language 'really used by men' while avoiding the poetic diction of much 18th-century verse."

He gives his famous definition of poetry as "the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings: it takes its origin from emotion recollected in tranquility"—calling his own poems in the book "experimental." A fourth and final edition was published in 1800—no, 1805.

Between 1795 and 1797, Wordsworth wrote his only play, The Borderers, a verse tragedy set during King Henry III of England's reign, when Englishmen in the North Country came into conflict with Scottish border reivers. He attempted to get it staged in November 1797; it was rejected by Thomas Harris, manager of Covent Garden Theatre, who proclaimed it "impossible that the play should succeed in the representation." The rebuff was not received lightly—the play was not published until 1842, after substantial revisions.

Love and Legacy

With the Peace of Amiens allowing travel to France again, in 1802, Wordsworth and his sister Dorothy visited Annette and Caroline in Calais. The purpose: preparing Annette for his forthcoming marriage to Mary Hutchinson. Afterwards, he wrote the sonnet "It is a beauteous Evening, calm and free," recalling a seaside walk with nine-year-old Caroline—whom he had never seen before that visit.

Mary was anxious that Wordsworth should do more for Caroline. Upon Caroline's marriage in 1816, Wordsworth settled £30 a year on her (equivalent to £2,000 in 2021), payments continued until 1835, when replaced by a capital settlement.

The Prelude and the Laureateship

Wordsworth's magnum opus is generally considered The Prelude, a semi-autobiographical poem of his early years that he revised and expanded numerous times. It was posthumously titled and published by his wife in the year of his death—1850—before which it was generally known as "The Poem to Coleridge."

In 1843, Wordsworth became Poet Laureate—a position he held until his death from pleurisy on April 23, 1850. He remains one of the most recognizable names in English poetry: a key figure among the Romantic poets who fundamentally changed how verses could sound, who could speak in them, and what they might say.