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Wordsworth, William

William Wordsworth was born in 1770 in a town called Cockermouth in Cumberland. He came from a relatively well-off middle-class family, but his early years were severely disrupted by the early death of his mother when he was eight years old and the tragic death of his father when he was just 13. Until he inherited his parents’ wealth, his formative years were full of uncertainty. He was raised by members of his family, and teachers at school. His childhood was marked by a rural education in Hawkshead School in the Lake District, and his childhood differs from that of many other contemporary poets in that his childhood was exclusively rural and northern. He began writing poetry when he was a teenager, and was noted by his teachers as a promising poet, publishing his first poem when he was just 16.

He went to Cambridge when he was 18 and studied Greek and Latin Literature and Mathematics, preferring the latter, and although he was a competent student he was not remarkable. In 1790 he went to France for a walking tour while France was going through the first stages of the Revolution, which would turn bloody only a few years later. In 1789 the most important prison in France, the Bastille, was sacked by Parisian workmen. This encouraged young adventurous men and women to visit France. In France Wordsworth met and became the lover of a French girl called Annette Valon, who was later to bear his child, Caroline Wordsworth. The walking tour and his experience of the Revolution in France helped him to reflect on his childhood experiences in the Lake District in England. He returned to England in 1792, around the same time that Britain declared war on France. France’s initially peaceful revolution became violent when the revolutionaries executed their king and declared France a republic. This meant that Wordsworth was unable to visit Annette and his daughter, which upset him considerably.

Back in England Wordsworth lived in London for a time and associated with what were then known as ‘radicals’. Radicals were people who called for political and social reform on a vast scale in England, and often sympathised with the French Revolution. Their primary aims were to make England more democratic, to abolish slavery and the oppression of women, and to reform corrupt financial laws. Wordsworth met the philosopher William Godwin, and although he was greatly influenced by his philosophical system, which emphasised using reason to form a rationally justified society, Wordsworth would later reject most of Godwin’s philosophy. Wordsworth had by now connected his early childhood experiences of nature, his adult reflections on nature and God, and his political philosophy, together to form a loose philosophy of life. His aim was to combine these three important experiences into poetry, which he began writing seriously in Dorset, while living with his sister Dorothy and friend Samuel Coleridge. Although Wordsworth wrote a larger volume of poetry of more consistent quality than both Dorothy and Coleridge, his two companions had a profound influence on his philosophy of nature and childhood. The result of his walking tours and discussions with philosophers such as Godwin and Coleridge was their joint venture, the collection called the Lyrical Ballads. The preface of the collection and most of the poems are written by Wordsworth. The book was published in 1798 and to mixed reviews, but in later years it was acknowledged as a revolutionary collection. It was vastly different in literary style and content from the previous 100 years of English poetry, and still has an effect on literature today. A second addition with added poems was published in 1800.

From 1800 to 1807 Wordsworth continued writing what is considered his best poetry, although he put forward a more orthodox religious system and cooled down the political content in his poems after the Lyrical Ballads. Although Wordsworth continued writing poetry after his 1807 collection, the ‘golden decade’ of 1797–1807 is considered his best work. Wordsworth also worked on an epic poem called ‘The Prelude’, which, although it was not published until after his death and exists in two editions, is arguably his greatest poetic accomplishment and one of the most influential long poems ever written. Looking back on the work of Wordsworth, Coleridge and their colleagues, we call them the Romantic Movement, but we need to keep in mind that this is a contemporary critical definition. Wordsworth would not have considered himself a ‘Romantic’, as the word meant something quite different back then.

As Wordsworth grew older he became more and more conservative socially and politically. He took up a job in the civil service in the North of England and campaigned for Tory MPs in Lancashire. Although later poets such as Keats, Shelley and Byron would later be disappointed and disillusioned by Wordsworth’s rejection of his youthful political radicalism, his philosophy of nature and childhood was absorbed and imitated by the second generation of Romantics and the Victorians. Wordsworth was appointed Poet Laureate in 1843, a final confirmation, if any were needed, that he had abandoned his radical politics and had become a solid member of the British establishment. He died in 1850.
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7th April 1770

William Wordsworth born

Wordsworth was born in Cockermouth, in the then county of Cumberland, now known as Cumbria, in the north of England. He had four siblings and his family was relatively well off. The house where he was born is now owned by the National Trust and is open to the public.

See what it’s like here.

1778

Wordsworth’s mother died

Wordsworth was eight when his mother died. Following her death, his father sent him to Hawkshead Grammar School and his sister, Dorothy, to whom he was particularly close, went to Yorkshire to live with relations. They were separated for nine years. Hawkshead Grammar School is now a museum and you can still see Wordsworth’s name carved into his desk.

Read more about the school here.

1783

Wordsworth’s father died

Wordsworth was 13 when his father died, leaving him to be raised by family members and teachers at school.
1787

First published

Wordsworth was first published in The European Magazine when he was 16 years old. His poem was called ‘Sonnet, On Seeing Miss Helen Maria Williams Weep at a Tale of Distress’.

Read it here.

1790

Travelled to France

France was in the first stages of revolution during the time of Wordsworth’s visit. He met Annette Valon and with her had a daughter, Caroline, in 1792.
1792

Returned to England

The French Revolution became increasingly violent and Britain declared war on France, meaning Wordsworth was unable to visit Annette and his daughter for 10 years.
1793

Went on a walking tour in Britain and first saw Tintern Abbey

Wordsworth later wrote about the abbey in his famous poem ‘Tintern Abbey’ (1798).

Read about the abbey here.

1795

Met Samuel Coleridge

Wordsworth, his sister Dorothy, and Coleridge became great friends, a relationship which no doubt had a huge impact on British poetry of the time.
1798

Lyrical Ballads published

Wordsworth and Coleridge worked together to publish Lyrical Ballads, a collection which arguably marks the beginning of the Romantic era in the arts. Wordsworth’s famous ‘Tintern Abbey’ was published in the volume, as was Coleridge’s ‘The Rime of the Ancient Mariner’. It was vastly different in literary style and content from the previous 100 years of English poetry and still has an effect on literature today.
1798

Travelled to Germany

Wordsworth, Dorothy and Coleridge spent a year in Germany during which time Wordsworth was immensely homesick for England. On their return in 1799, Coleridge suggested a trip to the Lake District which resulted in Wordsworth and Dorothy moving into Dove Cottage, remaining there until 1808. Today, the cottage is run as a museum by the Wordsworth Trust.

Read more about it here.

1800

Second edition of Lyrical Ballads published

The first edition didn’t name the authors; the second edition, however, was published under Wordsworth’s authorship. The 1802 third edition was altered significantly. The Preface, written by Wordsworth, is seen as central to Romantic literary theory.
1802

Married Mary Hutchinson

Mary Hutchinson moved into Dove Cottage with Wordsworth and Dorothy. Wordsworth and Mary had five children.
1807

Poems, in Two Volumes published

Before this, Wordsworth’s most noteworthy publication was still Lyrical Ballads. His new work wasn’t received with particularly high regard.
1810

Wordsworth and Coleridge were estranged

Reportedly due to Coleridge’s opium addiction, Wordsworth estranged himself from his friend. The next two years were particularly difficult for Wordsworth, with the deaths of two of his children and his brother.
1843

Became Poet Laureate

Wordsworth refused the post at first, thinking he was too old to fulfil the duties. He was allowed to accept without taking on any responsibilities, however, and he was the first Poet Laureate not to write any official verses.
1847

Wordsworth’s daughter Dora died

After her death, Wordsworth stopped writing.
23rd April 1850

Wordsworth died

After his death, his wife published the autobiographical poem he had been writing since 1798, retitled as ‘The Prelude’. Today, ‘The Prelude’ is thought to be Wordsworth’s true masterpiece.

Listen to an extract from it here.