William Wordsworth

1. William Wordsworth 1770-1850

2. Instructions: Read pgs. 523-525 again and review the notes over the reading. Take the fact check over the information. Introduction

3. Overview • 1770- Born in Lake District of Northern England • 1779-87- attended the village school at Hawkshead • 1787-91- Attended Cambridge (B.A., 1791) and enjoyed walking tours through France, Switzerland, Italy, and Northern Wales • 1791-94- Returned to France, where he became an ardent supporter of the French Revolution; fell in with the London radicals and embraced Godwinism (1793-94) • 1795-96- Lived at Racedown, Dorsetshire, with his sister, Dorothy, who reclaimed him from Godwinism • 1797-99- Traveled with Coleridge and Dorothy to Germany (wither, 1798-99); published Lyrical Ballads with Coleridge (1798); toured the Lake Country with Coleridge (summer, 1799); settled at Dove Cottage, Grasmere, with Dorothy (1799)

4. Overview • 1807- Read Coleridge his completed Prelude; published Poems in Two Volumes, ending the decade of his greatest poetic achievement (1797-807) • 1843- Became poet laureate • 1850- Died in Westmorland

5. Introduction: from Bob Jones Curriculum • The poets we know as romantics were known to their contemporaries as the Lake School (Wordsworth and Coleridge), the Cockney School (the Leigh Hunt Circle, including Keats), and the Satanic School (Byron, Shelley, and their followers). • Literary radicalism was associated with social revolution. • Wordsworth saw himself as a reshaper of the literary tradition he has inherited—an innovator.

6. Introduction: from Bob Jones Curriculum • It is important that we see him in the same way: as a writer defying the religious and literary assumptions of the forgoing ages. • Not to do so is to miss the revolutionary seriousness of his poetry. • The literary and intellectual establishment of his day did not mistake his intent. • Critics attacked his poems as vehicles of a new philosophical and religious viewpoint subversive to inherited values and institutions. • They recognized him as a poetic spokesman for a revolution: • Intellectual • Religious • Social • They closed ranks to resist him.

7. Introduction: from Bob Jones Curriculum • Christians today are the best-prepared critics of Wordsworth. • They can discern his didactic intent: • Displacement of the Christian theological world view and all its supporting institutions with a transcendentalist substitute. • Wordsworth muted his message and backed off a little from his intentions as he grew older. • This causes some obscurity in his meaning. • This also allows some to misread his works as simply those of a nature poet. • To understand Wordsworth is to understand romanticism in its literary and religious implications. • In politics and morality, the mature Wordsworth upheld the status quo.

8. Introduction: from Bob Jones Curriculum • The Introduction in your textbook stresses his role as a religious reformer as well as a poetic innovator. • Coleridge encouraged him in both. • Intro stresses his influencing of later poetry toward egocentricity and subjectivity. • He cultivated a public image as a poet-sage, self-dependent and self-inspired, and bequeathed the ideal to the Victorian and modern ages. • There are splendid things in his poetry—emotionally charged truths in a style that fuses plainness and vigor, solemnity and fervor. • But the system of ideas that gives rise to most of the poems is at odds with the truth of the Scripture, and our enthusiasm for particular passages or facets of his works must be qualified by our recognition of his general error.

9. Introduction Fact Check 1. Romantic writers were called all the following exceptthe A Lake School. B Cockney School. C London School. D Satanic School. 2. The two authors of Lyrical Ballads are A Samuel Taylor Coleridge and William Blake. B William Blake and Dorothy Wordsworth. C Dorothy Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge. D William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge. 3. Wordsworth, in the preface to the second edition of Lyrical Ballads, advocated language that reflects A scholars. B common people. C religious figures. D none of the above. 4. Wordsworth credited which of the following as being the major formative influence on his writing? A religion B nature C travel D education

10. Introduction Fact Check 2 5. The two things that reduced Wordsworth's inspiration from nature were his A religious experiences and studies at Cambridge. B studies at Cambridge and relationships with friends. C relationships with friends and walking tours in Europe. D walking tours in Europe and studies at Cambridge. 6. While in Germany with Dorothy, Wordsworth wrote A The Prelude. B the Lucy Poems. C Lyrical Ballads. D "I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud.” 7. The most important poetic achievement of British romanticism is A The Prelude. B Songs of Innocence. C The Rime of the Ancient Mariner. D Lyrical Ballads. 8. The Prelude is important for its A reinterpretation of redemption and its treatment of the French Revolution. B treatment of the French Revolution and its denigration of nature. C denigration of nature and its modification of the epic tradition. D modification of the epic tradition and its reinterpretation of redemption.

11. Introduction Fact Check 3 9. Who is both representative man and the hero of The Prelude? A Christ B the author himself C Adam D King Arthur 10. Wordsworth, like Blake, saw the pattern of life as symbolic of what? (pp. 517, 524) 11. What historical event caused the public to be suspicious of the romantic writers? (p. 523) 12. In Wordsworth's definition of the poetic process, what idea reflects the romantic dislike of control? (p. 523) 13. In what year was Lyrical Ballads published? (p. 523) 14. Wordsworth belonged to what school of writers? 15. Wordsworth's visit to France in 1790 affected him in what two ways? (p. 523) 16. What did Wordsworth come to believe would be the means of improving mankind? (p. 524) 17. What is the most important poetic achievement of British romanticism? (p. 524) 18. The Prelude is written in what verse form? (p. 524) 19. The Prelude is a literary milestone in England's rejection of whom? (p. 524)

12. Introduction Fact Check 4 20. What is Wordsworth's contribution to the literary revolution instigated by the romantics? (p. 525) 21. T/F Samuel Taylor Coleridge and William Wordsworth jointly authored Lyrical Ballads, which was published in 1798. (p. 523) 22. T/F Wordsworth considered religion to be the major formative influence on his writing. (p. 523) 23. T/F When France declared war on England in 1793, Wordsworth, supportive of French ideals, remained in France and promoted the revolutionary cause. (p. 523) 24. T/F Godwinism, the rationalistic doctrine of Godwin's Political Justice, had the effect of completely shutting Wordsworth's mind to nature's influence. (p. 523) 25. Because of Wordsworth's contribution to the revolutionary spirit of his age, he was never chosen to be poet laureate. (ppt notes) 26.T/F The term romantic was coined by Wordsworth and Coleridge in their work Lyrical Ballads. (p. 523)