William Wordsworth

Full Name:- William Wordsworth

Date of Birth:- 7 April 1770.

Place of Birth:- Cockermouth in Cumberland; The Lake District in northwest England.

Date of Death:- 23 April 1850.

Famous:- As an English romantic poet, one of the legendry Lake poets, who brought the romantic age in English Literature.

BIOGRAPHY:-

Early Life

William was second child to John Wordsworth and Ann Cookson, and was born on 7April 1770, The Lake District of northwest England. He had 4 siblings as:- 1. Richard, the first child of the family and his elder brother who went on to become a lawyer. 2. Dorothy, a year younger than William and the third child who became a poet. 3. John, the fourth child of the family, who became a poet too. 4. Christopher, the fifth child, who became an academician.

William's father, James was a lawyer to James Lowther, first Earl of Lonsdale and lived in a mension at Cockermouth. William had very less contact with his father due to his long absences and in the little time they spent togeather, John taught him poetry by Milton, Shakespeare and Spencer.

William spent time reading in his fathers library at Cockermouth. It was however during his time at his mother's parents house in Penrith, Cumberland that he came closer to nature and was exposed to moors and got experience of landscape. The harsh treatment at the hands of his relatives at Penrith and his hostile interactions with them distressed him to the point of contemplating suicide.

Education

After death of his mother in 1778 at the age of 8 years, William was sent to Hawkshead Grammar School, by his father John Wordsworth. This was his first formal education, and it was here that he first met the Hutchinsons, including Mary who, later became his wife.

William joined St John's College, Cambridge in 1787, and received his B.A. degree in 1791. It was in 1787 that he made his debut as a writer and published a sonnet in "The European Magzine". During this time William loved spending holidays in the lap of nature on walking tours, visiting places that were famous for natural beauty. In 1790, he took another such tour of Europe, during which he toured the Alps extensively, and visited nearby countries of France, Switzerland and Italy.

Love Life

In November 1791, William Wordsworth visited Revolutionary France and became enthralled with the Republican movement. It was their that he fell in love with a French woman, Annette Vallon, who in 1792 gave birth to their child, Caroline. Because of lack of money and Britain's tensions with France, he returned alone to England the next year. He wished to marry Annette but due to some reasons could not; however in a later life William Wordsworth supported both mother and daughter properly, as was decided on his visit to france in 1802 with sister Dorothy.

Romantic Revolution

During this phase he wrote a few poems that showed his deep love for both Annette and his daughter Caroline, along with other poems that marked his formal debut as a poet and also embarked the Romantic revolution or Romantic movement of Englsih poetry.

In 1795, he met Samuel Taylor Coleridge in Somerset. The two poets quickly developed a close friendship. In 1797, William Wordsworth and his sister, Dorothy, moved to Alfoxton House, Somerset, just a few miles away from Coleridge's home in Nether Stowey. Here in 1798, he togeather with Coleridge published the first Lyrical Ballads, a collection of poems from both the authors, however it was published without any names. The first Lyrical Ballad had most of its poems written by Wordsworth and Coleridge contributed only four. The immediate effect of the Lyrical Ballad on critics was modest, but it became and remains a landmark, changing the course of English literature and poetry.

Second Lyrical Ballad was published in 1800, and had only William Wordsworth listed as author. In this he included a preface to the poems, where he discussed and explains the elements of new type of poetry avoiding the diction of much 18th century poets. Third Lyrical Ballads was published in 1802, in which the preface to the poems were further augmented. This edition contained the famous deinition of poetry by Wordsworth as "the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings: it takes its origin from emotion recollected in tranquility". The final fourth edition to Lyrical Ballads was published in 1805.

Move to Lake District

In 1798, after the trip to Germany with his sister Dorothy and friend Coleridge, William Wordsworth was homesick and stressed. He and Dorothy then moved back to England, at Dove Cottage in Grasmere at Lake District near a Fellow poet Robert Southey. Togeather William Wordsworth, Coleridge and Southey came to be known as "The Lake Poets". During this period his poems usually revolved around the themes of pain, sepration, death and endurance.

Marriage and Children

In 1802, after a visit to France with his sister Dorothy, William Wordsworth recieved some 4000 pounds, from first Earl of Lonsdale as repayment to debt. Later, in the same year he married his childhood friend, Mary Hutchinson. Dorothy continued to live with the couple and soon grew close to Mary.

William had 5 children from Mary as:-

1. John Wordsworth (June 18, 1803 - 1875),
2. Dora Wordsworth (August 16, 1804 - July 9, 1847),
3. Thomas Wordsworth (June 15, 1806 - December 1, 1812).
4. Catherine Wordsworth (September 6, 1808 - June 4, 1812).
5. William "Willy" Wordsworth (May 12, 1810 - 1883).

Poetic Work

In 1807, his Poems in Two Volumes were published, including "Ode: Intimations of Immortality from Recollections of Early Childhood". Up to this point Wordsworth was known publicly only for Lyrical Ballads, and he hoped this collection would cement his reputation. Its reception was lukewarm, however. For a time (starting in 1810), Wordsworth and Coleridge were estranged over the latter's opium addiction. Two of his children, Thomas and Catherine, died in 1812. The following year, he received an appointment as Distributor of Stamps for Westmorland, and the £400 per year income from the post made him financially secure. His family, including Dorothy, moved to Rydal Mount, Ambleside (between Grasmere and Rydal Water) in 1813, where he spent the rest of his life.

In 1814 he published The Excursion as the second part of the three-part The Recluse. He had not completed the first and third parts, and never would. He did, however, write a poetic Prospectus to "The Recluse" in which he lays out the structure and intent of the poem.

By 1820, he enjoyed the success that came from a reversal in the contemporary critical opinion of his earlier works. Following the death of his friend the painter William Green in 1823, Wordsworth tried to mend relations with Coleridge. The two were fully reconciled by 1828, when they toured the Rhineland together. Dorothy suffered from a severe illness in 1829 that rendered her an invalid for the remainder of her life. In 1835, Wordsworth gave Annette and Caroline the money they needed for support.

Awards and Honors

Wordsworth was awarded Doctor of Civil Law degree in 1838 from Durham University, and the same honor from Oxford University the next year, in 1839. In 1842 the government awarded him a civil list pension amounting to £300 a year. With the death of Robert Southey, in 1843, Wordsworth became the Poet Laureate of England. When his daughter, Dora, died in 1847, he was too broken to write poetry.

Death

William Wordsworth died due to infection of lungs, that caused inflammation of pleural cavity on April 23, 1850, and was buried at St. Oswald's church in Grasmere.

Masterpiece

His widow Mary published his lengthy autobiographical "poem to Coleridge" as "The Prelude", several months after his death. Though this failed to arouse great interest in 1850s, it has since come to be recognized as his masterpiece.