William Wordsworth(otherwise: William Wordsworth, English William Wordsworth, April 7, Cockermouth, Cumberland County - April 23, Rydal Mount, near Grasmere, Cumberland County) - English romantic poet, the main author of the collection "Lyric Ballads", conventionally attributable to the so-called. "lake school".
Biography
Program
Representatives of romanticism sharply condemned urban culture and left it either in the Middle Ages - "Gothic novel", - or in nature. In the silence of small-scale life and the countryside, in simplification, they sought salvation from social ills, opposing city life to the simple “unspoiled” life of the province. "Simple" life became their ideal, and Wordsworth took up his apology in the field fiction. He made it a rule to "take material for creativity from ordinary life, arrange it in an ordinary way, in an ordinary language." " Ordinary life, - he says, - was chosen by me because only in it everything is natural and true; in its conditions, a simple, unadorned life does not contradict the beautiful and stable forms of nature ”(preface to“ Lyrical Ballads ”). Wordsworth lowered the rational and pompous language of Classical poetry to the level of spoken language; According to Wordsworth, the language of poetry should not differ from the language of prose.
The work of William Wordsworth
William Wordsworth is a poet of Nature and Man. He believed that his poetic purpose was to show nature not as a refuge of man from suffering and obligations, but as a source of "pure passion and fun", enduring inspiration and support, granting, if only a person is able to truly see and hear, eternal and universal the values of the soul and heart are love, joy, perseverance and compassion. This belief is rooted in Wordsworth's childhood and youth experiences, which determined his development as a poet. Unusually sharpened vision and hearing gave young man such a deep enjoyment of the beauty and mystery of nature that he often plunged into a trance or into a state of delight, reverence and even awe.
Just as deep was William Wordsworth's love for people - children and heirs of nature. In childhood and youth, he was fascinated by rural types, especially shepherds and "pedlars", that is, itinerant merchants. Their images are found in his poetry. The character of a different plan - an unbridled, cruel, insensitive tramp, who, however, is also a child of nature, capable of repentance and tenderness - is magnificently revealed in Peter Bell. Wordsworth never judged his neighbor, and his poetry is warmed by a feeling that C. Lam called "wonderful tolerance" for human weaknesses and shortcomings. Wordsworth loved the humble and meek in heart. Sympathy for the difficult female fate was also clearly manifested in his work. In his poetry, images of children often appear, sometimes showing, in contrast to narrow-minded adults, the insight of the heart and imagination, as in the ballad "We are seven" (1798).
Wordsworth invariably emphasized how much he owed to his four great predecessors in English poetry - J. Chaucer, E. Spencer, W. Shakespeare and D. Milton. His style reveals signs of their enduring influence, most notably of Milton, whose sonnets prompted Wordsworth to turn to this poetic form. His later poetry is mainly represented by sonnets, sometimes combined into cycles like the River Daddon and Church Essays. The plot poems of the Lyrical Ballads, both in content and in style, are related to the folk English ballad, well known to Wordsworth.
In Wordsworth's finest poetic works, clear thought is combined with expressive accurate descriptions, highlighted by the power of feeling, and in the depiction of characters as appearance, and the human soul is transmitted with impeccable accuracy. The same unwavering fidelity to truth allowed him in Book I of the Walk (where the Wanderer is in fact the author), in the Prelude and in Tintern Abbey, to reveal the states of delight, horror and spiritual vision he experienced in such a way that it became a new word in poetry.
In the mature and later years of his life, the creative genius inspired Wordsworth's poetry to a lesser extent than in -, but it was often the fruit of deep thought and feeling, and sometimes reached the heights of artistic skill.
images of nature
There is no city, even a provincial one, in Wordsworth. Only in the sonnet "To London" did he draw London, which, however, reminds Wordsworth of a calm and sleeping manor. There is none in the dream characteristic feature city, despite the fact that he wrote this sonnet standing on Westminster Bridge, in the very center of London.
On the other hand, he discovered, as critics say, nature to the English, and he is rightly considered the best master landscape. Everything that Wordsworth depicted is given against the backdrop of nature: a beggar sits on a distant rock, a cat plays with withered leaves, a deaf peasant lies under a pine tree, etc. He measures time with blooming springs, a long suffering summer, abundant fruits in autumn, cold long winters. He translates the subtlest shades of the psyche into the language of nature. Such a deficiency of the human body as deafness, Wordsworth depicts as follows: for the deaf, “a deep mountain valley with ringing streams is dead, he does not hear its music; on a summer morning he is not awakened by the solemn chorus of birds, he is not pleased with the booming “coo-coo” in the noisy forest; it is not for him that the bees sing and buzz in the flowers. When strong winds shake the wide chest of the lake and it sings, plays and rumbles with thousands of seething waves, the wind bends the tops of trees to the ground and rustles in the reeds - it does not hear the music of the storm - it sees only a silent picture. He does not hear the rattle of a plow turning over heavy clods of earth, he does not hear the ringing of a scythe and the crunch of grass, he does not hear the rustle of ears of corn when his sickle cuts the stems, he does not hear the cheerful noise of labor in a bad time ”(“ Excursion Book ”).
Wordsworth, being an opponent of urban culture, was not particularly drawn to science. He learned the world by direct contact with nature. "A child, putting a shell to his ear, hears the roar of the ocean." “Nature is known not by the mind, but by the sensitive and perceiving heart. Nature is the greatest teacher. Science is looking for a distant truth, and the poet sings the songs of today, he is echoed by today's humanity, in the face of today's truth.
In Wordsworth's work there is a share of mysticism and deification of nature, there is a little moralization and piety, but all this is lost in his deeply lyrical and simple poetry. In the works of Wordsworth, a peasant, a soldier who returned from service, a pedlar, and peasant children found their place (“A Noble Peasant”; “We are Seven”; “The idiot Boy”, etc.).
Political views
In his youth, Wordsworth was interested in the ideals of the Great French Revolution, but after Napoleon I came to power, like many contemporaries, he became disillusioned with the revolution. In the future, Wordsworth was a conservative, and any change in the "beautiful and stable forms of nature" aroused protest and indignation on his part. He appealed to the government with requests to support the petty nobility and its stronghold - the village, since, in his opinion, the power of England was based on the petty nobility. Wordsworth opposed the parliamentary reform, rebelled against the construction of the Kendal-Windermere railway.
Poet Laureate
After the death of Robert Southey in 1843, the 73-year-old Wordsworth was appointed
Years of life: from 04/07/1770 to 04/23/1850
English romantic poet. An outstanding representative of the "lake school".
William Wordsworth was born April 7, 1770 at Cockermouth, Cumberland. William Wordsworth was the second of five children of D. Wordsworth, attorney and agent J. Lowther (later the first Earl of Lonsdale).
In 1779, the young William Wordsworth was assigned to a classical school in Hawkshead (North Lancashire), from where he acquired an excellent knowledge of ancient philology and mathematics and erudition in English poetry. In Hawkshead, the future poet devoted a lot of time to his favorite pastime - hiking.
Already in 1787, William Wordsworth entered St. John's College, Cambridge University, where he studied mainly English literature And Italian. During the holidays, he walked around the Lake District and Yorkshire and wrote the heroic distich poem "An Evening Walk" (An Evening Walk, 1793), in which there are many heartfelt pictures of nature.
In July 1790, William Wordsworth and his university friend Richard Jones crossed a revolutionary awakening France on foot and reached the lakes of northern Italy via Switzerland.
On his return to London in December 1792, he published An Evening Walk and Descriptive Sketches, a travelogue with Jones, written in France and tinged with enthusiastic acceptance of the revolution.
The outbreak of the Anglo-French war in February 1793 shocked William Wordsworth and plunged him into despondency and anxiety for a long time.
In the autumn of 1794, one of William Wordsworth's young friends died, bequeathing him £900. This timely gift allowed Wordsworth to devote himself entirely to poetry. From 1795 until mid-1797 he lived in Dorsetshire with his only sister, Dorothea; they were united by a complete kindred of souls. Dorothea believed in her brother, her support helped him get out of depression and become a great poet. He began with the tragedy The Borderers. Genuine feeling filled with a poem in blank verse "The Ruined Cottage" (The Ruined Cottage) - about the fate of an unfortunate woman; later the poem became the first part of The Excursion.
In July 1797, the Wordsworths moved to Alfoksden (Somersetshire) - closer to Samuel Taylor Coleridge, who lived in Nether Stowe. During the year of close communication with Coleridge, the collection "Lyrical Ballads" (Lyrical Ballads) was formed, which included Coleridge's Tale of the Old Mariner, "The Foolish Boy", "Turn", "Lines", written at a distance of several miles from Tintern Abbey and others poems by Wordsworth. An anonymous edition of the Ballads appeared in September 1798. Samuel Taylor Coleridge persuaded Wordsworth to start an epic "philosophical" poem about "man, nature and society" called The Recluse. William Wordsworth enthusiastically set to work, but got bogged down in the composition. As part of this plan, he wrote only a poetic introduction About Man, Nature and Life, the autobiographical poem "The Prelude" (The Prelude, 1798-1805) and "Walk" (1806-1814). At Alfoxden he also completed (but did not publish) Peter Bell.
In September 1798, the Wordsworths and Coleridge traveled to Germany. In Goslar, Wordsworth, approaching The Hermit, set out in blank verse the history of his adolescent impressions and experiences from communion with nature. He later included what was written in the Prelude as Book I. In addition, he wrote many poems, including the cycle "Lucy and Ruth".
In December 1799, he and Dorothea rented a cottage in Grasmere (Westmoreland County).
In January 1801, William Wordsworth produced a second edition of Lyric Ballads, adding the Grasmere narrative poems The Brothers and Michael, and an extensive preface discourse on the nature of poetic inspiration, the purpose of the poet, and the content and style of true poetry. Coleridge did not give a single new work to the second edition, and it, having absorbed the first, was published under the name of one William Wordsworth.
The winter and spring of 1802 were marked by the creative activity of the poet: The Cuckoo, the Butterfly triptych, Promises of Immortality: Ode, Resolve and Independence were written.
In May 1802 the old Earl of Lonsdale died and the heir agreed to pay the Wordsworths £8,000. This greatly strengthened the welfare of Dorothea and William, who was about to marry Mary Hutchinson. In August, all three went to Calais, where they saw Anette Vallon and Caroline, and on October 4 Mary and Wordsworth were married. Their marriage was very happy. From 1803 to 1810 she bore him five children. Dorothea stayed with her brother's family.
In 1808 the Wordsworths moved to a larger house in the same Grasmere. There, Wordsworth wrote most of The Walk and several prose works, including his famous pamphlet on the Convention at Cintra, motivated by sympathy for the Spaniards under Napoleonic rule and indignation at the treacherous policies of England. This period was overshadowed by a quarrel with Coleridge (1810-1812) and the death in 1812 of his daughter Catherine and son Charles.
In May 1813 the Wordsworths left Grasmere and settled at Rydel Mount, two miles from Ambleside, where they lived for the rest of their days. In the same year, Wordsworth received, under the patronage of Lord Lonsdale, the office of State Commissioner of Stamp Duties in two counties, Westmoreland and part of Cumberland, which enabled him to provide for his family. He held this position until 1842, when he was given a royal pension of £300 a year.
After finishing Napoleonic Wars(1815) William Wordsworth was able to satisfy his wanderlust by visiting Europe several times. "Prelude", "a poem about his life", he finished back in 1805, but in 1832-1839 he carefully rewrote it, softening too frank passages and inserting pieces imbued with emphatically Christian sentiments.
In 1807 he published Poems in Two Volumes, which included many of his great lyric poetry. The Walk appeared in 1814, followed in 1815 by the first collection of poems in two volumes (with a third added in 1820). In 1816, the Thanksgiving Ode was published - for the victorious end of the war. In 1819, Peter Bell and the Charioteer (The Waggoner), written back in 1806, saw the light of day, and in 1820, the cycle of sonnets, The River Duddon, was published. In 1822, the Ecclesiastical Sketches were published, in the form of sonnets, outlining the history of the Anglican Church from the time of its formation. Back at Yarrow (Yarrow Revisited, 1835) was mostly written from impressions of trips to Scotland in 1831 and 1833. The last book published by William Wordsworth was Poems, Chiefly of Early and Late Years (1842), which included The Borderers and the early poem Guilt and Sorrow.
The last twenty years of the poet's life were overshadowed by the long illness of his beloved sister Dorothea. In 1847 he lost his only daughter, Dora, whom he loved very much. His support was his wife and devoted friends. Wordsworth died at Rydel Mount on April 23, 1850.
Bibliography
1793 -- (An Evening Walk) and Descriptive Sketches
1795 -- The Borderers, The Ruined Cottage and The Excursion
The Recluse
Peter Bell (Peter Bell) the book was finished but not published
1802 -- Cuckoo
1802 - Butterfly
1802 -- Promises of immortality
1805 -- The Prelude (changed until 1939)
1807 -- Poems in Two Volumes
1816 -- Thanksgiving Ode
1819 -- Peter Bell and the Charioteer (The Waggoner)
1820 -- The River Duddon sonnet cycle
1822 -- Church essays (Ecclesiastical Sketches)
1835 -- Back in Yarrow (Yarrow Revisited)
1842 -- Poems, Chiefly of Early and Late Years (Poems, Chiefly of Early and Late Years)
William Wordsworth, whose biography and work are the subject of this review, was the largest representative of the direction of romanticism in English literature. His work largely determined the transition from classicism to romanticism. His landscape and is the best example of the world's poetic heritage.
general characteristics
Wordsworth William was a prominent representative of his time, his works should be considered in the context of the era. In the 18th century, the dominant trend in English literature was classicism. However, by the end of the century there was a tendency to move towards sentimental and romantic lyrics. This was largely determined by the dominant trends of that era, namely the fact that great importance the works of Rousseau played in socio-political thought and in literature in general. The cult of nature put forward by him and the depiction of human experiences, emotions, personality psychology had a huge impact on the educated circles of that time. In addition, English literature already had the experience of creating sonnets, images of nature and subtle lyrics. The works of W. Shakespeare, D. Chaucer, D. Milton had big influence to the work of the poet.
Childhood, youth and travel
William Wordsworth was born in 1770 in Cumberland. He was the son of a real estate agent. The boy was sent to a school in North Lancashire, where he received a good education: He studied ancient and English literature, mathematics. However, even more important was the fact that the child grew up in nature, which had a huge impact on the formation of personality. It was then that he fell in love with landscapes, which later became mainly in his lyrical works. Then Wordsworth William entered the University of Cambridge, which was dominated by an atmosphere of rivalry, which he did not like.
However, it is in student years a very significant event took place: during the holidays, a young man, together with his friend, went on a trip on foot to France, where revolutionary upheavals were just taking place. They made a great impression on the future poet. Together with his companion, he reached the lake district in Italy. This journey was of great importance for his work: under the impression of him, Wordsworth William wrote his first significant work ("Walk"). It has already outlined the main creative principles of the author's poetic work: a combination of a description of nature and philosophical reasoning. We can say that this poem has become one of his most significant works. He worked on it a lot in subsequent, mature years, reworking, rewriting and inserting new parts into it.
Transition period
Wordsworth William, after graduating from university, devoted himself to poetic creativity. However, the 1790s were a difficult time for him, as it was a period of disillusionment in the French Revolution. In addition, he very painfully accepted the fact that his country went to war against France. All these experiences led to depression, so his lyrics of this period are painted in gloomy tones. But, fortunately, this did not last long, because very soon William Wordsworth, whose poems were still distinguished by melancholy and despondency, met Coleridge, who was also a poet. This acquaintance, literally in a year, grew into a strong friendship, which was very fruitful for their cooperation, and primarily for the author's creative upsurge.
"Great Decade"
That is how it is customary to call the period from 1797 to 1808 in the biography of the poet. Wordsworth William, whose works have now received a completely different sound, entered a period of creative upsurge. Friends decided to take a trip to Germany and before sending decided to publish a collection of poems that were supposed to demonstrate their views on contemporary literature. Coleridge was to write ballads in an exotic style, while his friend was to write sentimental and romantic lyrics. However, the first included only about five works in the collection, the rest belonged to his co-author. The reason should be sought in the fact that Coleridge undertook to write ballads in the traditional English spirit, that is, on complex plots and in a serious style. While the verses are on English language his friend were distinguished by ease and simplicity. His heroes spoke in an understandable and accessible way for everyone, which was a fundamental innovation for that time.
creative principles
This collection is also interesting in that, during its second edition, Wordsworth made an introduction in which he outlined the rules that guided him when writing his poems. He stated that his lyrical ballads are based on plots and reality, which he perceived and described as it seemed to him. And life, nature and way of life were seen by the poet as a natural manifestation of the universe. Wordsworth stated that it is necessary to perceive and depict the surrounding reality in a simple, clear and spoken language. He believed that there was no need to complicate anything when creating literary work Since the laws of nature are natural, they must be perceived directly, without unnecessary sophistication. In this setting one can guess the influence of the ideas of Rousseau, who also sang the life of man in the bosom of nature and emphasized the artificiality of city life.
Basic images
Poems in English by Wordsworth are notable for their uncomplicated composition, but their characteristic feature is a combination of images of nature, emotional experiences with deep philosophical reasoning. This was new to English literature at the time. In addition, the author made the hero of his works common man: on the pages of his poems there are vagabonds, wanderers, beggars, traveling merchants. This type of character was new to English literature, and not everyone immediately appreciated the poet's discovery. For some time, literary critics even criticized him for such innovations.
Another characteristic image in his poetry is a person who has suffered from social injustice. Wordsworth condemned the war very sharply and wrote the drama The Frontiersmen, in which he depicted all the horrors of victims and violence. And finally, a great place in it creative heritage occupies the image of himself. The poet wrote his autobiography in a poetic form called "Prelude". It has an accurate image human psychology and emotional experiences of the character, who carefully analyzed the path of his creative development as a poet. The image of the author is important for understanding the entire work of the poet in general.
Other works
The best examples of the author's lyrics include poems about nature and spiritual experiences of a person. He was particularly sensitive to the depiction of nature. William Wordsworth, whose "Daffodils" are one of the best examples of his lyrical poetry, perfectly and perfectly felt the beauty of the world around him. In this poem, he sang the beauty of flowers, mountains in a very sonorous melodious form. This composition is remarkable for its extraordinary melodiousness and penetration.
Another of his famous works is called "On Westminster Bridge". William Wordsworth recreated the panorama of London, however, he paid attention not so much to the urban landscape as to natural phenomena. In general, the city as such is almost never present in the works of the poet. It belongs entirely to the village, the village and nature.
Late period
The last two decades of the poet's life were marked by the gradual fading of his poetic inspiration. In literary criticism, it is customary to distinguish between "early" and "late" Wordsworth. And if the first stage of his work was marked by a clear and harmonious worldview, then the later period is distinguished by a heavy frame of mind. This is largely due to the author's personal losses: he was very upset by the death of his beloved sister, with whom he lived all his life, as well as the death of his two children. In addition, he lost his brother, who drowned during one of the flights, as well as his friend Coleridge. However, at this time he created a whole cycle of beautiful sonnets and elegiac works that are imbued with sadness, sorrow and longing. These later works of his have a greater philosophical load than his early works, in which joyful admiration of the beauties of nature prevailed. The poet died in 1850 in the same county where he was born.
The meaning of creativity
Wordsworth's poetry became a milestone in the formation of English romanticism. In modern literary criticism, he, along with Coleridge, belongs to the older generation of romantics. It is significant that the author's poetry did not immediately receive recognition. It was not until the 1830s that his services to literature were rewarded. The public began to favor his writings, and the queen granted him the title of poet laureate. He was also known in Russia. So, Pushkin in his famous "Sonnet" mentioned the name as a prominent author.
William Wordsworth was an English Romantic poet and representative of the Lake School. William Wordsworth was born April 7, 1770 at Cockermouth, Cumberland. He was the second of five children of D. Wordsworth, attorney and agent J. Lowther (later 1st Earl of Lonsdale). In 1779, young William was assigned to a classical school in Hawkshead (North Lancashire), from where he acquired an excellent knowledge of ancient philology and mathematics and erudition in English poetry. In Hawkshead, the future poet devoted a lot of time to his favorite pastime - hiking. Already in 1787, William entered St. John's College, Cambridge University, where he studied mainly English literature and Italian. During the holidays, he walked around the Lake District and Yorkshire and wrote the heroic distich poem "An Evening Walk" (An Evening Walk, 1793), in which there are many heartfelt pictures of nature.
In July 1790, Wordsworth and his university friend, Richard Jones, crossed a revolutionary awakening France on foot and reached the lakes of northern Italy via Switzerland. Wordsworth's father died, and his employer, the Earl of Lonsdale, owed him several thousand pounds, but refused to recognize this debt. The family hoped that William would take holy orders, but he was not in the mood for this and in November 1791 he again went to France, to Orleans, to improve his knowledge in French. In Orleans, he fell in love with the daughter of a military doctor, Anette Vallon, who on December 15, 1792, gave birth to his daughter Caroline. His guardians ordered him to return home immediately. William acknowledged his paternity but did not marry Anette. On his return to London in December 1792, he published An Evening Walk and Descriptive Sketches, a travelogue with Jones, written in France and tinged with enthusiastic acceptance of the revolution. The outbreak of the Anglo-French war in February 1793 shocked Wordsworth and plunged him into despondency and anxiety for a long time. In the autumn of 1794, one of William Wordsworth's young friends died, bequeathing him £900. This timely gift allowed Wordsworth to devote himself entirely to poetry.
From 1795 until the middle of 1797 he lived in Dorsetshire with his only sister, Dorothea; they were united by a complete kindred of souls. Dorothea believed in her brother, her support helped him get out of depression. He began with the tragedy The Borderers. Genuine feeling is filled with a poem in white verse "The Ruined Cottage» (The Ruined Cottage) - about the fate of an unfortunate woman; later the poem became the first part of The Excursion. In July 1797, the Wordsworths moved to Alfoksden (Somersetshire) - closer to Samuel Taylor Coleridge, who lived in Nether Stowe. During the year of close communication with Coleridge, the collection "Lyrical Ballads" (Lyrical Ballads) was formed, which included Coleridge's Tale of the Old Mariner, "The Foolish Boy", "Turn", "Lines", written at a distance of several miles from Tintern Abbey and others poems by Wordsworth. An anonymous edition appeared in September 1798. Samuel Taylor Coleridge persuaded Wordsworth to start an epic "philosophical" poem about "man, nature and society" called The Recluse. William enthusiastically set to work, but got bogged down in the composition. As part of this plan, he wrote only a poetic introduction "On Man, Nature and Life", an autobiographical poem "The Prelude" (The Prelude, 1798-1805) and "Walk" (1806-1814). At Alfoxden he also completed (but did not publish) Peter Bell. In September 1798, the Wordsworths and Coleridge traveled to Germany. In Goslar, Wordsworth, approaching The Hermit, set out in blank verse the history of his adolescent impressions and experiences from communion with nature. He later included what he wrote in the Prelude as Book I. In addition, he wrote many poems, including the Lucy and Ruth cycle. In December 1799, he and Dorothea rented a cottage in Grasmere, Westmoreland. In January 1800, William Wordsworth produced a second edition of the Lyric Ballads, adding the Grasmere narrative poems Brothers and Michael, and an extensive preface discourse on the nature of poetic inspiration, the purpose of the poet, and the content and style of true poetry. Coleridge did not give a single new work to the second edition, and it, having absorbed the first, was published under the name of one William Wordsworth. The winter and spring of 1802 were marked by the creative activity of the poet: The Cuckoo, the Butterfly triptych, Promises of Immortality: Ode, Resolve and Independence were painted. In May 1802 the old Earl of Lonsdale died and the heir agreed to pay the Wordsworths £8,000. This greatly strengthened the welfare of Dorothea and William, who was about to marry Mary Hutchinson. In August, all three went to Calais, where they saw Anette Vallon and Caroline, and on October 4 Mary and Wordsworth were married. Their marriage was very happy. From 1803 to 1810 she bore him five children. Dorothea stayed with her brother's family.
In 1808, the Wordsworths moved to a larger house in the same Grasmere. There, Wordsworth wrote most of The Walk and several prose works, including his famous pamphlet on the Convention at Cintra, motivated by sympathy for the Spaniards under Napoleonic rule and indignation at the treacherous policies of England. This period was overshadowed by a quarrel with Coleridge and the death in 1812 of his daughter Catherine and son Charles. In May 1813 the Wordsworths left Grasmere and settled at Rydel Mount, two miles from Ambleside, where they lived for the rest of their days. In the same year, Wordsworth received, under the patronage of Lord Lonsdale, the office of State Commissioner of Stamp Duties in two counties, Westmoreland and part of Cumberland, which enabled him to provide for his family. He held this position until 1842, when he was given a royal pension of £300 a year. After the conclusion of the Napoleonic Wars (1815), William Wordsworth was able to satisfy his wanderlust by visiting Europe several times. "Prelude", "a poem about his life", he finished back in 1805, but in 1832-1839 he carefully rewrote it, softening too frank passages and inserting pieces imbued with emphatically Christian sentiments. In 1807 he published Poems in Two Volumes, which included many of his great lyric poetry. The Walk appeared in 1814, followed in 1815 by the first collection of poems in two volumes (with a third added in 1820). In 1816, the Thanksgiving Ode was published - for the victorious end of the war. In 1819, Peter Bell and the Charioteer (The Waggoner), written back in 1806, was published, and in 1820, the cycle of sonnets, The River Duddon, was published. In 1822, Ecclesiastical Sketches was published, in the form of sonnets, outlining the history of the Anglican Church from the time of its formation. Back in Yarrow (Yarrow Revisited, 1835) was written mainly from impressions of trips to Scotland in 1831 and 1833. The last book published by William Wordsworth was Poems, Chiefly of Early and Late Years (1842), which included The Borderers and the early poem Guilt and Sorrow. . The last twenty years of the poet's life were overshadowed by the long illness of his beloved sister Dorothea. In 1847 he lost his only daughter, Dora, whom he loved very much. His support was his wife and devoted friends. Wordsworth died at Rydel Mount on April 23, 1850.
