Art and Artist

William Wordsworth

William Wordsworth was born in 1770. He was a famous English Romantic poet. In order to initiate the Romantic Age in English Literature, William Wordsworth along with Samuel Coleridge. The Romantic Age was initiated with the 1798 joint publication Lyrical Ballad (Muir et al, pp.4).

William Wordsworth is the one of the most important figures who has contributed towards romanticism in English poetry. He is a well-known lyric poet in the history of English literature.

Discussion

Events of William Wordswoth's Life

William Wordsworth was born in Cooker mouth, Cumberland. He was the second child of an attorney. The childhood of William Wordsworth was joyful unlike the other main romantic poets of English Language. He spent the infancy of his life beneath care and love of his mother. He also had an intimate relationship with his younger sister Dorothy (Fenton, pp. 261).

During his childhood, William Wordsworth used to roam ebullient in Cumberland. Wordsworth showed his keen interest in poetry at Hawkshead Grammar School.

William Wordsworth was captivated by "the divine John Milton.” He was affected by poverty descriptions of George Crabbe (Chase, pp.473).

Wordsworth finished his graduation from Cambridge. Before graduating, he went on an expedition of Italy, Switzerland, and France.

Stay in France

The life and works of William Wordsworth were largely influenced by the revolutionary zeal in France. The visit to France helped Wordsworth improve his French language. During his stay in France, William Wordsworth developed sympathy for the common life. It is because the happiest years of William Wordsworth's life were spent with plain and common people.

With the passage of time, Wordsworth began to develop political ideas and poetic talent. When his poetic talent began to take shape, William Wordsworth fell in a passionate love with a French girl named Annette Vallon. Annette Vallon gave birth to their daughter in December 1792. Nevertheless, Wordsworth was obliged to return home because he had consumed his inadequate funds. The partition filled Wordsworth with guiltiness. For this reason, the theme of neglected and abandoned womanhood is dominant in his work.

Publication of First Poems

In 1793, Descriptive Sketches and An Evening Walk were printed. By that time, the miseries of the separation from Annette and their daughter had been exasperated due to the war between England and the French Republic. This event had a great impact on his works. Wordsworth illustrated republicanism with the same zeal and persuasiveness that was in A Letter to the Bishop of Llandaff. The new experience of human sufferings was expressed in Salisbury Plain.' Political justice had largely influenced the ideas of William Wordsworth. These influences provoked and encouraged him to write 'Guilt and Sorrow'.

Works of William Wordsworth

The two greatest poems of William Wordsworth include the 'Immortality Ode' and the 'The Prelude'. These poems are a representation of personal thoughts of William Wordsworth regarding the development of intelligence and inventiveness in infancy, childhood and following life. Both these poems of William Wordsworth illustrate that the early childhood was a joyful time of Wordsworth's life. The script version of ...