political reform, 230–1, 306, 323, 324
property classes, 231–2
railways, 322–3, 329
religion, 92, 186, 306
Tories, 165, 228, 231, 233–6, 267, 268
tourism, in, 322–3
war, 65, 165
women, 203–4
WRITINGS:
‘Advice to the Young’, 196, 201
‘Among all Lovely Things’, 188
‘Another year, another deadly blow’, 190
Borderers, The, 244
sole attempt at play, 86
rejected by Covent Garden, 93
‘Brothers, The’, 124
Collected Poems (1815), 238, 240, 272
Convention of Cintra, The, 196–7, 237
‘Daffodils’, 128, 188, 191
two best lines credited to Mary, 250
quoted, 134, 250
Descriptive Sketches, 47, 54, 64, 138
first published verse, 61–2
praised by Coleridge, 83
Duddon sonnets, 278
quoted, 299
Ecclesiastical Sonnets, 279
Evening Walk, An, 36, 37, 43
first published verse, 61–2
praised by Coleridge, 83
dedicated to Dorothy, 132
Excursion, The, 192
writing of, 93
publication, 237
William’s first (and longest) long poem, 237, 240
unfavourable reviews, 239–40, 241–3, 274
high price and low sales, 241, 242
‘Expostulation and Reply’, 105
quoted, 97
‘Extempore Effusion upon the Death of James Hogg’, 305
quoted, 314
Guide to the Lakes, 289–91, 323
‘Happy Warrior, The’, 190
‘Idiot Boy, The’, 103, 128
quoted, 104
‘Intimations of Immortality’, 128, 188
quoted, 176
‘It is a Beauteous Evening’, quoted, 273
‘Leech-gatherer, The’, 132
‘Lines composed a few Miles above Tinterr Abbey’, 106
quoted, 109
‘Lucy’ poems, 101, 124
quoted, 129–30
Lyrical Ballads (with Coleridge), 101–7, 133, 171, 190, 201, 222, 278
compilation of 96, 106–7, 208
publication, 101–2, 107
poor reviews, 102, 122, 261
conversational style, 102–3
considered shocking, 103–4
rustic topics, 103–5
ridicule of, 104–5
better reviews, 122–3
new two-volume edition, 123–8, 169
limited but warm acclaim for, 124, 127–8
Lamb’s opinion, 124–5
reprintings, 125, 128, 177
William’s ‘conceited’ Preface, 125–7, 128, 188
middling critical coverage, 189
rearranged in Collected Poems, 240
first appearance in America, 336
quoted, 97, 104, 105, 109, 129–30. See also individual poems
‘Michael’, 124
‘Moods of my own Mind’, 190
‘My Heart leaps up’, 188
‘Nutting’, 101, 124
‘Ode to Duty’, 174, 181, 188
quoted, 227
‘On the Projected Kendal and Windermere Railway’, quoted, 329
‘On seeing Miss Helen Maria Williams weep at a Tale of Distress’ (first published work), 51
‘Peter Bell’: Keats’s and Reynolds’s parody of, 274, 275
Shelley’s skit on, 275
Byron’s satire on, 275
publication, 276
Poems in Two Volumes (1807): publication, 188
hostile reviews, 188–91
quoted, 227, 260. See also individual poems
Prelude, The, 6, 20, 24, 33, 39, 47, 240, 316
as basic source of knowledge of early years, 1–2, 10, 21, 53, 57–8
first recorded ‘spot of time’ in, 12–13
identification of people in, 20
Cambridge attacked in, 31, 40, 42, 43;
joyful Hawkshead sections, 36
anticlericalism in, 40
Vaudracour and Julia interlude, 57–8
London passages, 60, 61, 76
rare humour in, 61, 186
begun at Goslar, 101
self-analysis, 126
planned for posthumous publication, 128
completion of, 165, 174, 305
publication, 340, 342
‘Recluse, The’, 93, 238, 263, 305, 335
‘Salisbury Plain’, 69, 71
‘She was a Phantom of Delight’, 188
quoted, 260
‘Solitary Reaper, The’, 157, 188
quoted, 162
‘Strange fits of passion’, 124
‘Surprised by joy’, 212
quoted, 213
‘Tables Turned, The’, 105, 163
quoted, 97
‘Thorn, The’, 303
quoted, 104
‘To a Butterfly’, 15, 339
‘To the Cuckoo’, quoted, 339
‘To the Daisy’, 188
‘To HC, Six Years Old’, 333
‘To the Spade of a Friend’, 191
‘We are seven’, 105
‘Westminster Bridge’, 140, 188
quoted, 147
White Doe of Rylstone, The, 192, 238, 239, 274
dedicated to Mary, 248
quoted, 244, 248
‘World is too much with us, The’, quoted, 193
Wordsworth, Willy (son), 210, 214, 241, 301, 324
birth, 205
ill health, 246, 257, 293
academic slowness, 256, 257, 293–4
spoiling of, 256–7
idleness, 257, 293, 295
problem of career, 293–4, 302, 313
gives Dora away, 309
succeeds father as Distributor of Stamps, 313, 332
marriage to Fanny Graham, 332
Wordsworth, a Reinterpretation (Bateson),
‘Wordsworth upon Helvellyn’ (E. B. Browning), 327
Wrangham, Francis, 181
Yarmouth, 99, 101
Yarnell, Ellis, 336–7
York, Frederick, Duke of, 66
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I am grateful to the staff, officials and Trustees of the Wordsworth Trust, Grasmere, where were inordinately patient with my questions and requests, and who went on to provide endless information and advice. They cannot be held responsible for my interpreations, but they readily made their scholarship available. I was especially grateful to the late Jonathan Wordsworth of St Catherine’s College, Oxford (Chairman of the Wordsworth Trust) for his help, and his good humour throughout the project; to the late Dr Peter Laver, Resident Librarian at the Wordsworth Library, Grasmere, for compiling my original reading list; and perhaps most of all to the late Dr Robert Woof, Director of the Wordsworth Trust for reading and commenting upon my final manuscript, a task well beyond the call of his many duties. Thanks also for help on the present edition to Jeff Cowton, Curator of the Wordsworth Trust.
I would also like to thank the Earl of Lonsdale for his help with the Lowther family records; Beth Darlington of Vassar College, New York, for her guidance on the newly discovered Wordsworth letters; the Librarian of St John’s College, Cambridge; the late Mary Henderson of Rydal Mount, and the Curator; the staff at Wordsworth House, Cockermouth, and the National Trust.
First published in 1980 by George Weidenfeld and Nicolson Ltd
This edition first published in 2009
by Frances Lincoln Ltd, 74–77 White Lion Street, London N1 9PF
www.franceslincoln.com
This eBook edition first published in 2014
William Wordsworth
Copyright © Hunter Davies 1980, 1997, 2003, 2009, 2014
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