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William Wordsworth. By Catherine Russell. Biography . Born on April 7, 1770 in Cockermouth, Cumberland in the Lake District, the British poet William Wordsworth is famous for leading the Romantic movement of poetry.
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William Wordsworth By Catherine Russell
Biography Born on April 7, 1770 in Cockermouth, Cumberland in the Lake District, the British poet William Wordsworth is famous for leading the Romantic movement of poetry. Wordsworth had a happy childhood until he was eight when his mother died followed by his father five years later which led to him and his beloved younger sister being separated along with his other brothers. The Wordsworth children were left under the care of two of his uncles and William was sent to a grammar school to study. After graduation in 1790, William set out on a walking journey through France where he met Annette Vallon and had a love affair which resulted in a illegitimate Daughter named Anne Caroline, who is thought to be the subject of Wordsworth’s poem called Vaudracour and Julia.
In 1795, Wordsworth met Samuel Coleridge and together they took inspiration from Nature and created many lyrical works of poetry that lead the romantic movement. Not extremely successful with selling his poetry, Wordsworth struggled with money issues throughout his life. In 1802 he married Mary Hutchinson and together they lived at Dove Cottage, Grasmere, Cumbria where they cared for William sister Dorothy for about twenty years. In 1850 on April 23, William Wordsworth died from respiratory failure. He was buried in St. Oswald’s Churchyard in Grasmere, Cumbria, England.
Why I enjoy Wordsworth… William Wordsworth was greatly influenced by the beauty of nature and he expressed this passion often in his poetry. This is what I admire and enjoy about Wordsworth work because I as well share an love for the splendor of the trees, wind, flowers and everything else nature displays. I also appreciate Wordsworth choice of words and structure of his poems which he communicates his emotions and viewpoints extremely well.
Poetry SHE DWELT AMONG THE UNTRODDEN WAYSSHE dwelt among the untrodden ways Beside the springs of Dove, A Maid whom there were none to 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!
THE WORLD IS TOO MUCH WITH US; LATE AND SOON THE world is too much with us; late and soon, Getting and spending, we lay waste our powers: Little we see in Nature that is ours; We have given our hearts away, a sordid boon! The Sea that bares her bosom to the moon; The winds that will be howling at all hours, And are up-gathered now like sleeping flowers; For this, for everything, we are out of tune; It moves us not.--Great God! I'd rather be A Pagan suckled in a creed outworn; So might I, standing on this pleasant lea, Have glimpses that would make me less forlorn; Have sight of Proteus rising from the sea; Or hear old Triton blow his wreathed horn.
LONDON, 1802MILTON! thou should'st be living at this hour: England hath need of thee: she is a fen Of stagnant waters: altar, sword, and pen, Fireside, the heroic wealth of hall and bower, Have forfeited their ancient English dower Of inward happiness. We are selfish men; Oh! raise us up, return to us again; And give us manners, virtue, freedom, power. Thy soul was like a Star, and dwelt apart: Thou hadst a voice whose sound was like the sea: Pure as the naked heavens, majestic, free, So didst thou travel on life's common way, In cheerful godliness; and yet thy heart The lowliest duties on herself did lay.
I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud I wandered lonely as a cloudThat floats on high o'er vales and hills,When all at once I saw a crowd,A host, of golden daffodils,Beside the lake, beneath the treesFluttering and dancing in the breeze.Continuous as the stars that shineAnd twinkle on the Milky Way,They stretched in never-ending lineAlong the margin of a bay:Ten thousand saw I at a glanceTossing their heads in sprightly dance. The waves beside them danced, but theyOut-did the sparkling waves in glee: - A poet could not but be gayIn such a jocund company:I gazed -and gazed -but little thoughtWhat wealth the show to me had brought.For oft, when on my couch I lieIn vacant or in pensive mood,They flash upon that inward eyeWhich is the bliss of solitude;And then my heart with pleasure fillsAnd dances with the daffodils.
The Sun Has Long Been Set The sun has long been set,The stars are out by twos and threes,The little birds are piping yetAmong the bushes and the trees;There's a cuckoo, and one or two thrushes,And a far-off wind that rushes,And a sound of water that gushes,And the cuckoo's sovereign cryFills all the hollow of the sky.Who would go `parading'In London, `and masquerading',On such a night of JuneWith that beautiful soft half-moon,And all these innocent blisses?On such a night as this is!
My Imitation of a Wordsworth Poem Morning Comes Light breaks over the shadowed hill, Unfolds a hand of life. Shakes the trees of the morning chill; Awakens last nights strife. Arising with the stroke of sun, Her face is streaked with tears. Although the day has not begun; Her heart is filled with fears. For my imitation of Wordworth's work I decided to imitate Wordsworth’s rhyming scheme and stanza structure as seen in his poem, A slumber did my spirit seal to form a poem of my own.
Response to a Literary Criticism I read a literary criticism by Amelia Warren with the title, The Significance of Gender in Radcliffe and Wordsworth. This criticism compares how Wordsworth’s poetry is often written in first person; using “I” quite frequently instead of “he” or “she”. The author then proceeds to compare Wordsworth’s tendency to compose poetry this way to another poet, Ann Radcliffe (1764-1823) who instead tends to write using third person. Radcliffe’s poems are like novels, as in the poetry surrounds the characters that are presented to us to discover. This style, which is quite unlike Wordsworth’s singular presentation of the characters in his poems that gives us a perspective and view of the world from Wordsworth’s eyes in the 17th century. Although both styles of poetry are appealing and pleasing to our senses I can relate with Wordsworth’s frequently used style of writing in first person because I tend to write in a similar style.
Bibliography • Websites: • 1. Warren, A. (1993). The Significance of Gender in Radcliffe and Wordsworth. Retrieved December 6, 2005, from Victorian Web • Web site: http://www.victorianweb.org/previctorian/ww/gender1.html • 2. Selendy Communications. (2001).The complete poetical works of William Words. Retrieved November 28, 2005, from the Archives of Classic poem • Web site: http://www.everypoet.com/archive/poetry/William_Wordsworth/ • 3. Menon, S. (2003). William Wordsworth. Retrieved December 6, 2005, from The Literature Network • Web Site: http://www.online-literature.com/wordsworth/ • Books: • 1. Coffin, C. & Roelofs, G. (1954). The Major Poets: English and American. • New York: Harcourt, Brace & World, Inc.
