Once these emotions are recollected, he then reorganizes them. These recollections include inspirational thoughts and events in his life that have greatly influenced him. According to Wordsworth, poetry is “Spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings and emotions, recollected in tranquility.”Īccording to him, the job of a poet is to examine his own self to recollect the powerful feelings of his life. This is the second most important characteristic of his poetry that he discussed in his preface to the second edition of Lyrical Ballads. Wordsworth poetry is preoccupied with emotions. The poem has an uncomplicated syntax and easy diction that readers, instead of reading, start singing it. For example, in the poem Daffodils, this aspect of his poetry is very obvious. Looking at the poetry of Wordsworth from this angle, his poetry has uncomplicated syntax, direct phrasing, and little illusion. Before understating the distinctive characteristics of Wordsworth poetry, one must consider the poetic conventions before Romanticism the poetry of the 18 th century uses high dictionary words with complex syntax. His poetry was treated differently by the contemporary readers and critics as the diction employed by Wordsworth in his poem resembles that of the rough, illiterate peasants and villagers whom Wordsworth admired a lot. The first and important feature is the use of common language, as Wordsworth says, “ the language really used by men.”
These features are clearly outlined in his preface to the second edition of Lyrical Ballads. The poetry Wordsworth has two fundamental features. He died at the age of 80, on 23 rd April 1850. Wordsworth became the poet laureate of England in 1843. In 1818, he started supporting the conservative Tories very enthusiastically. In 1813, he was titled as “a distributor of stamps.” He moved with his family to a new place in the Lake District in the same years. Developing Poetry, Philosophy, and DeathĪs Wordsworth was growing old, he started rejecting radicalism. The work that Wordsworth produced during this period made him one of the most acclaimed poets. During this period, his creativity had reached a peak. The poetry he wrote in this time includes “I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud” and “Ode: Intimations of Immortality.” These poems published the collection of Two Volumes in 1807.īetween the years 1782 to 1808, Wordsworth wrote an immense number of poems, even the most touching that mourn the death of his two children. When he returned to England, he married Mary Hutchinson. In 1802, the war between France and England had been stopped temporarily, and Wordsworth got a chance to see his beloved Vallon and their daughter, Caroline.
In the preface, he explained what poetry really is and said that it is “spontaneous overflow of powerful feeling and emotion, recollected in tranquility.” This preface was considered as the declaration of Romantic principles. When he was working on The Prelude, he also wrote the poem “Lucy” and preface to the second edition of Lyrical Ballads. The work is an auto-biological epic poem that he revised throughout his life. Wordsworth also started writing The Prelude in 1798. The volume was composed of the poems “Rime of the Ancient Mariner” by Coleridge and “Tintern Abbey” by Wordsworth. They started working together on the most famous work of poetry, Lyrical Ballads, that was then published in 1798. In the same year, Wordsworth came across Samuel Taylor Coleridge, and they became good friends.
Wordsworth received an inheritance in 1975 that made him live with his sister. Wondering in England without any job, he was greatly influenced by activists like William Godwin. However, both were separated due to the declaration of war between the French and English in 1973. In 1791, on his return trip to France, he met Annette Vallon and fell in love with her. In 1790, during the French Revolution, Wordsworth visited France and supported the ideals of the new republican government. After graduating from school, he went to Cambridge University for higher studies however, he could not outshine and managed to graduate in 1791. At Grammar School, he wrote his first poetry.
Though he had lost a significant part of his life, he continued to perform well at the Hawkshead Grammar School. Following the death of his mother, his father also died when he was 13 years old. William Wordsworth was born in Cumberland, England, on 7 th April 1770. William Wordsworth’s Writing Style Early Life.Developing Poetry, Philosophy, and Death.A Short Biography of William Wordsworth.