William Wordsworth

One of the most enduringly popular of Romantic poets, William Wordsworth epitomized the spirit of his age with his celebration of the natural world and belief in the importance of feeling. This volume brings together a rich selection from the most creative period of Wordsworth's life - from "Tintern Abbey", an ode to the restorative powers of nature written during his intense friendship with Coleridge, to excerpts from his epic autobiographical poem, The Prelude. Also included are much loved short works such as "I Wandered lonely as a Cloud", "Composed Upon A Westminster Bridge" and the poignant "Lucy Gray". These poems demonstrate Wordsworth's astonishing range, power and inventiveness, and the sustained and captivating vision that informed his work.

First published in July 1850, shortly after Wordsworth's death, The Prelude was the culmination of over fifty years of creative work. The great Romantic poem of human consciousness, it takes as its theme 'the growth of a poet's mind': leading the reader back to Wordsworth's formative moments of childhood and youth, and detailing his experiences as a radical undergraduate in France at the time of the Revolution. Initially inspired by Coleridge's exhortation that Wordsworth write a work upon the French Revolution, The Prelude has ultimately become one of the finest examples of poetic autobiography ever written; a fascinating examination of the self that also presents a comprehensive view of the poet's own creative vision.

This epic work covers the experiences of Wordsworth's boyhood and his poetic development; his debt to literature; the awakening of his passionate interest in man; his hope and despair for the French Revolution; his life in London and in the country; the highs and lows of his career; his relationship with his sister Dorothy and his friendship with Coleridge. Through The Prelude Wordsworth was at last free to devote his life to its true vocation and to record his gratitude for the gift which brought him that freedom.

Selected Poetry of William Wordsworth represents Wordsworth’s prolific output, from the poems first published in Lyrical Ballads in 1798 that changed the face of English poetry to the late “Yarrow Revisited.” Wordsworth’s poetry is celebrated for its deep feeling, its use of ordinary speech, the love of nature it expresses, and its representation of commonplace things and events. As Matthew Arnold notes, “[Wordsworth’s poetry] is great because of the extraordinary power with which [he] feels the joy offered to us in nature, the joy offered to us in the simple elementary affections and duties.”

'Listen, Stranger!'

Wordsworth and Coleridge's joint collection of poems has often been singled out as the founding text of English Romanticism. Within this initially unassuming, anonymous volume were many of the poems that came to define their age and which have continued to delight readers ever since, including 'The Rime of the Ancient Mariner', the 'Lucy' poems, 'Lines written a few miles above Tintern Abbey', 'A Slumber did my Spirit seal' and many more. Wordsworth's famous Preface is a manifesto not just for Romanticism but for poetry in general.

This is the only edition to print both the original 1798 collection and the expanded 1802 edition, with the fullest version of the Preface and Wordsworth's important Appendix on Poetic Diction. It offers modern readers a sense of what it was like to encounter Lyrical Ballads for the first time, and to see how it developed. Important letters are included, as well as a wide-ranging introduction and generous notes.

Of all the lasting innovations that William Wordsworth (1770-1850) brought to our literature, it is his discovery of nature and his fresh vision of human lives in the context of nature that have most influenced our cultural climate. Here, collected in this volume, are Wordsworth’s finest works, some of the most beautiful poems ever written: from the famous lyrical ballads, including "The Tables Turned" and "Lines Composed a Few Miles Above Tintern Abbey," to the sonnets and narrative poems, to excerpts from his magnum opus, The Preludes. By turning away from mythological subjects and artificial diction toward the life and language around him, Wordsworth acquired for poetry the strength and new sources of inspiration that have allowed it to survive and flourish in the modern world.