During which years was Wordsworth alive?
1770-1850
When did Wordsworth become aligned with the ideals of the French Revolution?
when studying at Cambridge, took a walking tour in Switzerland and then France -> gained appreciation of the movement and became a supporter
When was the Romantic period believed to have begun in full swing?
in 1798 with Coleridge and Wordsworth’s publication of their ‘Lyrical Ballads’
o primarily WW’s work, but Coleridge contributed ‘The Rime of the Ancient Mariner’
o met with hostility by most contemporary critics
What did Dorothy Wordsworth (Wordsworth’s sister) say about her literary ambitions?
“I should detest the idea of setting myself up as an author, I give Wm. the Pleasure of it.”
Describe Dorothy Wordsworth’s relationship with her brother in terms of career
The waves beside them danced, but they
Outdid the sparkling waves in glee: –
A poet could not but be gay
In such a laughing company:”
o VERY clear similarities
o plus, Wordsworth doesn’t give any credit to Dorothy in the poem (the walk in the Grasmere Journal description was SHARED between Dorothy and her brother, whilst in the poem, WW seems to claim the observations as his own; similarly, in his guide to the Lake District, Dorothy’s included descriptions are not credited to her
What does Wordsworth say of Dorothy in his poem ‘The Sparrow’s Nest’?
“She gave me eyes, she gave me ears”
Describe Wordsworth’s strife in the years following 1802 (his marriage to Mary Hutchinson) and the change in his political views this caused
as result, WW’s political views became increasingly conservative and was disillusioned by the failure of the French Rev, which he had believed in so greatly (David Wright)
What religion did WW follow and what effect did this have on his work?
What was the ‘back-to-nature’ movement?
What did Wordsworth say in his extended preface to ‘Lyrical Ballads’ (1802) about the effect of nature on human emotion?
“the essential passions of the heart find a better soil in which they can attain their maturity, are less under restraint, and speak a plainer and more emphatic language”
What did Wordsworth say in his extended preface to ‘Lyrical Ballads’ (1802) about the effect of society on the expression of human “passions”?
“the language [of rural people] is purified from… its real defects… being less under the influence of social vanity they convey their feelings and notions in simple and unelaborated expressions.”
What did Wordsworth say in his extended preface to ‘Lyrical Ballads’ (1802) about the effect of nature on the permanency/power of human emotional expression?
“such a language… is a more permanent, and a far more philosophical language, than that which is frequently substituted for it by Poets”
OR
“the passions of men are incorporated with the beautiful and permanent forms of nature”
What did Wordsworth say in his extended preface to ‘Lyrical Ballads’ (1802) about the type of language used in the poems of the collection?
used “a selection of language really used by men”
What did Wordsworth say in his extended preface to ‘Lyrical Ballads’ (1802) about his presentation of the “situations from common life” used in the ‘Lyrical Ballads’ collection?
“to throw over them a certain colouring of imagination, whereby ordinary things should be presented to the mind in an unusual way”
Lines Written in Early Spring
Lines Written in Early Spring
When was the poem written and where?
Why did WW write ‘Lines Written in Early Spring’?
What is significant about the structure of ‘Lines Written in Early Spring’?
“I heard a thousand blended notes,”
“grove”
“I sate reclined”
“sweet mood when pleasant thoughts/Bring sad thoughts to the mind.”
“her” used for “Nature”
feminine aspect of God and Nature -> OT depiction of God when watching over the Jews in their wanderings in the desert as feminine and caring -> WW Pantheism
o nurturing and mortherly aspects of nature emphasised
- used across a lot of WW’s work - eg. the Prelude
“did Nature link/The human soul that through me ran;”