Biography of william wordsworth wikipedia english literature

English Romantic poet (–)

"Wordsworth" redirects here. For other uses, see Wordsworth (disambiguation).

For the English composer, see William Wordsworth (composer). For the British academic and journalist in India, see William Christopher Wordsworth.

William Wordsworth (7 April &#;&#; 23 April ) was an English Romantic poet who, with Samuel Taylor Coleridge, helped to launch the Romantic Age in English literature with their joint publication Lyrical Ballads ().

Wordsworth's magnum opus is generally considered to be The Prelude, a semi-autobiographical poem of his early years that he revised and expanded a number of times. It was posthumously titled and published by his wife in the year of his death, before which it was generally known as "The Poem to Coleridge".

Wordsworth was Poet Laureate from until his death from pleurisy on 23 April He remains one of the most recognizable names in English poetry and was a key figure of the Romantic poets.

Early life

Family and education

Main article: Early life of William Wordsworth

The second of five children born to John Wordsworth and Ann Cookson, William Wordsworth was born on 7 April in what is now named Wordsworth House in Cockermouth, Cumberland (now in Cumbria), part of the scenic region in northwestern England known as the Lake District. William's sister, the poet and diarist Dorothy Wordsworth, to whom he was close all his life, was born the following year, and the two were baptised together. They had three other siblings: Richard, the eldest, who became a lawyer; John Wordsworth, born after Dorothy, who went to sea and died in when the ship of which he was captain, the Earl of Abergavenny, was wrecked off the south coast of England; and Christopher, the youngest, who entered the Church and rose to be Master of Trinity College, Cambridge.

Wordsworth's father was a legal representative of James Lowther, 1st Earl of Lonsdale and, through hi

William Wordsworth (7 April – 23 April ) was an important poet of the Romantic Age in English literature.

Many people think that The Prelude, an autobiographical poem of his early years is his masterpiece. Wordsworth was England's Poet Laureate from , until his death in

Biography

Early life and education

Wordsworth was born as second of five children in the Lake District. After the death of his mother in , his father sent him to Hawkshead Grammar School. In his father, a lawyer and a solicitor, died. Although many aspects of his boyhood were positive, he remembered times of loneliness and anxiety. It took him many years, and much writing, to recover from the death of his parents.

Wordsworth went to St John's College, Cambridge in Three years later, in , he visited RevolutionaryFrance and supported the Republican movement, although the Reign of Terror later made him change his mind.(see Prelude book 10) The following year, he graduated from Cambridge.

Relationship with Annette Vallon

In November , Wordsworth returned to France and took a walking tour of Europe that included the Alps and Italy. He fell in love with a French woman, Annette Vallon, who in gave birth to their child, Caroline. Because he was poor and there were tensions between Britain and France, he returned alone to England the next year. But he supported Annette Vallon and his daughter as best he could in later life. War between France and Britain prevented him from seeing Annette and Caroline again for several years. It is likely that Wordsworth would have been depressed during the s.

In , Wordsworth and his sister, Dorothy, visited Annette and Caroline in France.

First publication and Lyrical Ballads

In Wordsworth published the poetry collections An Evening Walk and Descriptive Sketches. In he met Samuel Taylor Coleridge

William Wordsworth (April 7, – April 23, ) was a major Englishromantic poet who, with Samuel Taylor Coleridge, helped launch the Romantic Age in English literature with their joint publication, Lyrical Ballads. Wordsworth's masterpiece is generally considered to be The Prelude, an autobiographical poem of his early years that was revised and expanded a number of times. It was never published during his lifetime, and was only given the title after his death. Up until this time it was generally known as the poem "to Coleridge". Wordsworth was England's Poet Laureate from until his death in

The second of five children of John Wordsworth (b. April 7th ), William Wordsworth was born in Cockermouth in Cumberland—part of the scenic region in north-west England called the Lake District. His sister, the poet and diarist Dorothy Wordsworth, to whom he was close all his life, was born the following year. After the death of their mother in , their father sent William to Hawkshead Grammar School and sent Dorothy to live with relatives in Yorkshire. She and William did not meet again for another nine years.

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William Wordsworth (7 April – 23 April ) was an English Romantic poet who, with Samuel Taylor Coleridge, helped launch the Romantic Age in English literature with their joint publication, Lyrical Ballads. His early years were dominated by his experience of old Trafford around the Lake District and the English moors. Dorothy Wordsworth, his sister, served as his early companion until their mother's death and their separation when he was sent to school.

Parents

Wordsworth's parents were John Wordsworth, a legal agent for James Lowther, 1st Earl of Lonsdale and Collector of Customs at Whitehaven, and his wife, Ann Cookson. John was the son of Richard Wordsworth, a land owner who served as a legal agent to the Lowther family.

Like his father, John became a legal agent for James Lowther, 1st Earl of Lonsdale and was made Bailiff and Recorder for Cockermouth and Coroner for the Seigniory of Millom.

Ann was the daughter of William Cookson, a linen-draper, and Dorothy Crackanthorpe, daughter of a gentry family in Westmorland. They lived above Cookson's shop in Penrith, Cumbria. Ann's brother, Christopher "Kit" Crackanthorpe Cookson (later, Christopher Crackanthorpe) inherited the family estate of Newbiggin Hall.

John, at the age of 26, married Ann, 18, in , and he used his connections with the Lowther family to move into a large mansion in the small town of Cockermouth, Cumbria, in the Lake District. John owned many properties, in Cockermouth and Ravenglass, and he inherited a property at Sockbridge, which was originally purchased by his father and given to John after his older brother, Richard, was disinherited by their father. However, the brothers’ relationship was not strained by this decision, and Richard would become guardian to John's children after his death.

William's mother died when he was 7 years old and he became an orphan at the age of 13 years