William Wordsworth

by William Wordsworth, Oliver Ford Davies (Read by), Jasper Britton (Read by)

Overview

One of the most enduringly popular of Romantic poets, William Wordsworth epitomized the spirit of his age with his celebration of the natural world and belief in the importance of feeling. This volume brings together a rich selection from the most creative period of Wordsworth's life - from 'Tintern Abbey', an ode on the restorative powers of nature written during his intense friendship with Coleridge, to excerpts from his epic autobiographical poem, The Prelude. Also included are much loved short works such as 'I wandered lonely as a Cloud', 'Composed Upon Westminster Bridge' and the poignant 'Lucy Gray'. These poems demonstrate Wordsworth's astonishing range, power and inventiveness, and the sustained and captivating vision that informed his work.

In his introduction, Wordsworth's biographer Stephen Gill examines the personal and political events that shaped his poetic career, and traces the major themes running through his work. This edition also includes a chronology, further reading, explanatory notes and an index of titles and first lines.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781094017280
Publisher:	Naxos
Publication date:	03/17/2020
Series:	Great Poets Series
Edition description:	Unabridged
Product dimensions:	5.30(w) x 7.50(h) x 0.00(d)

About the Author

William Wordsworth (1770–1850) was an influential English poet who, with Samuel Taylor Coleridge, helped launch the Romantic Age of English literature with the 1798 joint publication of Lyrical Ballads. He was Britain’s Poet Laureate from 1843 until his death in 1850.

Oliver Ford Davies has, over the last forty years, become one of the world’s most esteemed actors. He spent twelve years with the Royal Shakespeare Company and won the Olivier Award for Best Actor while at the National Theatre. His television work includes Kavanagh QC, Inspector Morse, David Copperfield, and Sparkling Cyanide; his films include The Mother, Johnny English, Mrs. Brown, and Atonement.

Jasper Britton took the lead in the Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre production of Richard III and has also worked for the Royal National Theatre and the Royal Shakespeare Company. His television appearances include The Bill and Peak Practice, and he has narrated several audiobooks.

Table of Contents

	Chronology	ix
	Introduction	xiii
	Further Reading	xxix
	A Note on the Texts	xxxii
	Old Man Travelling	3
	The Ruined Cottage	3
	A Night-Piece	18
	The Old Cumberland Beggar	19
	Lines Written at a Small Distance from my House	24
	Goody Blake and Harry Gill	26
	The Thorn	30
	The Idiot Boy	38
	Lines Written in Early Spring	53
	Anecdote for Fathers	54
	We Are Seven	56
	Expostulation and Reply	59
	The Tables Turned	60
	Lines Written a Few Miles above Tintern Abbey	61
	The Fountain	66
	The Two April Mornings	68
	'A slumber did my spirit seal'	71
	Song ('She dwelt among th' untrodden ways')	71
	'Strange fits of passion I have known'	72
	Lucy Gray	73
	Nutting	75
	'Three years she grew in sun and shower'	77
	The Brothers	78
	Hart-Leap Well	92
	From Home at Grasmere	99
	From Poems on the Naming of Places	109
	To Joanna	109
	'A narrow girdle of rough stones and crags'	112
	Michael	114
	'I travelled among unknown Men'	128
	To a Sky-Lark	128
	Alice Fell	129
	Beggars	131
	To a Butterfly ('Stay near me')	133
	To the Cuckoo	133
	'My heart leaps up when I behold'	135
	To H. C., Six Years Old	135
	'Among all lovely things my Love had been'	136
	To a Butterfly ('I've watched you')	137
	Resolution and Independence	137
	'Within our happy Castle there dwelt one'	142
	'The world is too much with us'	144
	'With Ships the sea was sprinkled far and nigh'	145
	'Dear Native Brooks your ways have I pursued'	145
	'Great Men have been among us'	146
	'It is not to be thought of that the Flood'	146
	'When I have borne in memory what has tamed'	147
	'England! the time is come when thou shouldst wean'	147
	Composed by the Sea-Side, near Calais	148
	'It is a beauteous Evening, calm and free'	149
	To Toussaint L'Ouverture	149
	Composed in the Valley, near Dover, on the Day of Landing	150
	Composed Upon Westminster Bridge	150
	London, 1802	151
	'Nuns fret not at their Convent's narrow room'	151
	Yarrow Unvisited	152
	'She was a Phantom of delight'	154
	Ode to Duty	155
	Ode: Intimations of Immortality from Recollections of Early Childhood	157
	'I wandered lonely as a Cloud'	164
	Stepping Westward	164
	The Solitary Reaper	165
	Elegiac Stanzas	166
	A Complaint	169
	Gipsies	169
	St Paul's	170
	'Surprized by joy - impatient as the Wind'	171
	Yew-Trees	172
	Composed at Cora Linn	173
	Yarrow Visited	175
	To R. B. Haydon, Esq. ('High is our calling, Friend!')	178
	Sequel to the Foregoing [Beggars]	178
	Ode: Composed upon an Evening of Extraordinary Splendor and Beauty	180
	The River Duddon: Conclusion	183
	'The unremitting voice of nightly streams'	183
	Airey-Force Valley	184
	Extempore Effusion Upon the Death of James Hogg	184
	'Glad sight wherever new with old'	186
	At Furness Abbey	186
	'I know an aged Man constrained to dwell'	187
	from The Prelude	188
Book I188
Book II204
Book III218
Book IV224
Book V231
Book VI241
Book VII246
Book VIII252
Book IX259
Book X263
Book XI271
Book XII275
Book XIII278
	Notes	285
	Index of Titles	309
	Index of First Lines	311

Editorial Reviews

"This is the essential Wordsworth anthology of the present, with sound notes and texts that ask all the current questions."—Keith Hanley, University of Notre Dame

"Excellent anthology of Wordsworth's work."—Alan Lin, UCSC

"A beautiful edition. I'll be certain to use this one for my Romanticism course."—Christopher Moylan, New York Institute of Technology

"An excellent text with a new approach—to present Wordsworth as his contemporaries read him."—Leonidas M. Jones, University of Vermont

"The only text for an undergraduate or graduate course which is serious about putting Wordsworth's poetry in its historical context."—Aline Fairweather, Temple University

From the Publisher