Life of William Wordsworth - (Wiley Blackwell Critical Biographies) by John Worthen (Hardcover)

Book Synopsis

By examining the family and financial circumstances of Wordsworth's early years, this illuminating biography reshapes our understanding of the great Romantic poet's most creative period of life and writing.

• Features new research into Wordsworth's financial situation, and into how the poet and his family survived financially
• Offers a new understanding of the role of his great unwritten poem 'The Recluse'
• Presents a new assessment of the relationship between Wordsworth and Coleridge

From the Back Cover

BLACKWELL CRITICAL BIOGRAPHIES

"This is an original and richly informed life of the great poet, both sympathetic and skeptical. John Worthen has brought a fresh pair of eyes to many aspects of Wordsworth's biography, and the result is a vivid and persuasive account of a remarkable personality."
SEAMUS PERRY, UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD

It is no secret that William Wordsworth's early years were marked by poverty. But just how important was a lack of money in shaping the poet's character and career? By delving deeply into the circumstances of Wordsworth's early years, biographer John Worthen reshapes our understanding of the great Romantic poet's most creative period of life and writing. We discover how rebellious and pig-headed the young Wordsworth needed to be in order to survive; we observe the critical role Dorothy played in unleashing her brother's poetic genius; we realize the importance of Lakeland's "Dove Cottage" to him (it was wonderfully cheap); we appreciate the nature of the great "philosophical" poem The Recluse, which occupied so much of Wordsworth's poetic career; and we understand the importance (far too often under-rated) of Samuel Taylor Coleridge to him. Scholarly and thought-provoking, The Life of William Wordsworth: A Critical Biography breathes new life into our understanding of the life and work of this great English poet.

Review Quotes

"John Worthen's engaging new biography of Wordsworth begins by quoting the poet's recollection of himself at around the age of 10, surveying tall trees, black chasms, and dizzy crags: 'I loved to stand and & read j Their looks forbidding', he says, 'read & disobey' (p. 3). . . Worthen's book is a revealing account of the consequences of that daring." (The Review of English Studies, 15 October 2014)

About the Author

JOHN WORTHEN is Emeritus Professor, University of Nottingham, UK. His books include The Cambridge Introduction to Samuel Taylor Coleridge (2010), Robert Schumann: Life and Death of a Musician (2007), D. H. Lawrence: The Life of an Outsider (2005), The Gang: Coleridge, the Hutchinsons and the Wordsworths in 1802 (2001), and D. H. Lawrence: The Early Years 1885-1912 (1991).