Romanticism

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William Wordsworth

The leader of the Romantic Movement in England was born on April 7, 1770 in Cockermouth,

Cumberland. After his final year at St. John’s College at Cambridge University, he set out on a walking

tour of Europe, which influence both is poetry and his political thinking. He was in France during the

French Revolution and lived in France for a period of time. In 1795, he met English poet Samuel Taylor

Coleridge and collaborated on a book of poems, Lyrical Ballads, in 1798. In the preface to the second

edition, Wordsworth stated his views on his craft and his place in the world. It is one of the most

important statements of the Romantic period. He died on April 23, 1850.

Read more about Wordsworth at the BBC:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/wordsworth_william.shtml

Read the Poetry on Bartleby.Com: "Lines Composed a Few Miles above Tintern Abbey": http://www.bartleby.com/145/ww138.html

"I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud": http://www.bartleby.com/145/ww260.html

"The World Is too much with Us": http://www.bartleby.com/145/ww317.html

Discussion Board: Choose one poem from this collection (one of the 3 poems listed for Wordsworth or one of the 3

poems listed for Byron in this lesson) and explain what it means to you: What does the poems have to

say that is meaningful in your life or in modern life in general? Reply to at least 3 other students. Your

"new post" should be 150-200 words; replies an be 30-40 words.

William Wordsworth by Benjamin Robert Haydon, oil on canvas, 1842

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Works Cited

Hayden, Benjamin Robert. William Wordsworth. 1842. National Portrait Gallery. Wikimedia

Commons. Web. 21 Dec. 2014.