William Wordsworth: life and works
William
Wordsworth (1770-1850) was a major romantic poet. He was born in Cambria,
England. His mother died when he was only eight and his father after five years
this experience shaped his later work. He made his debut as a writer in 1787,
when he published a sonnet in The
European Magazine. In 1795, he met
Coleridge, the two became friends and started working together. He composed his masterpiece, Lyrical Ballads (1798), which opened with
Coleridge’s “Ancient Mariner”. It
helped romantic take hold in English poetry. Wordsworth assumed the role of a
leader for the Romantic Movement and wrote his Preface to Lyrical Ballads
(1800) where he offered the philosophy of ‘new poetry’. Wordsworth composed The Prelude, an epic autobiographical
poem in 1805 but it was published posthumously in 1850.
In 1843,
Wordsworth became England’s poet Laureate, a position he held for the rest of
his life.
William Wordsworth as a nature poet
Wordsworth was the greatest worshiper of nature, nature’s devotee or high
priest. His love of Nature is perhaps truer, more sincere and
more loving than that of any other English poet. He stands supreme and he can be termed a Romantic poet
on a number of reasons. The Romantic Movement of the early nineteenth century
was a revolt against the artificial pseudo classical poetry of the eighteenth
century. It was also marked by certain positive trends. Wordsworth was, of
course, a pioneer of the Romantic Movement of the nineteenth century. With the
publication of Lyrical Ballads, the new trends
become more or less established.
William Wordsworth is also known as a poet of nature. In most
of his poems nature is constructed as both a healing entity and a teacher or
moral guardian. In his poems nature is considered as a living personality. The
critic Cazamian says, "to Wordsworth, nature appears is a formative
influence superior to any other, the educator of senses or mind alike, the
shower in our hearts of the deep laden seeds of our feelings and beliefs".
For Wordsworth, nature is a healer and andhe
says, "never did betray the
heart that loved her".
He had a completely new philosophy of nature. He believed
that there is a divine spirit pervading all the objects of nature. This belief
finds a complete expression in his nature poem Tinturn Abbey. According to him, Nature
removes the depression and agony of human mind. He believed that there is a link between man and nature. In his eyes, "Nature is a
teacher whose wisdom we can learn if we will, and without which any human life
is vain and incomplete. He believed in the education of man by nature.
Three points in his creed of nature may be pointed:
1. He considered nature as a living personality. He believed
that there is a divine spirit in all the objects of nature.
2. He believed that nature gives joy to human heart and he
looked upon nature as a healing influence.
3. Above all, he emphasized the moral influence of nature. For
him nature is a great moral teacher, guardian, mother and nurse of man. He
believed that there is a mutual consciousness between nature and man.
Major
works of Wordsworth
1. Lines Written I Early Spring
2. Lines Composed A Few Miles above Tintern Abbey
3.
Lucy Gray
4.
Solitary Reaper
5.
Poems, In Two Volumes
6.
I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud"
Also known as "Daffodils"
7. Ode: Intimations of Immortality
9. The Prelude