The Major Works by William Wordsworth

The Major Works Reviews

• 
  Alok Mishra

  WW's poetry is remarkable, vivid and animated most of the times. He was not a simple personality to fit within the context of a limited timeframe, ideology or school of poetry. His words create something that is permanent and resonates for long within the minds of the readers. However, at times, the poems become transparent and you can actually see it the way you want - or just ignore it and think on your own about life and death and the ultimate truth. Powerful - if in one word you are asked to conclude!
• 
  Michael

  I read Wordsworth as a sort of spiritual salve, a way to escape our industrialized and technology-filled world, through lines like these:
  
  The world is too much with us; late and soon,
  Getting and spending, we lay waste our powers:
  Little we see in nature that is ours.
  
  These lines seem especially poignant in our internet age, when the world is with us all the time, and we are increasingly focused on "getting and spending." And what of nature? We see little of ourselves in it, with the result that "we lay waste" to ourselves. This is why I love Wordsworth, because he's earnest and spiritual and, to me, surprisingly relevant.
• 
  Elenabot

  It was in reading Wordsworth years ago that I learned that the ancient division between philosophy and poetry is a false one, and that both, rightly seen and wholeheartedly pursued, are ultimately convergent trajectories of the human spirit. Wordsworth is the quintessential philosophical poet, I think. His work best displays what contribution poetry can offer to philosophy in the search for wisdom.
  
  It was especially his Preface to his Lyrical Ballads, and some of the poems contained therein, that articulated for me a concept of both knowledge and of truth - "truth as an invisible friend and hourly companion" - that seemed more primordial as well as being closer to home than any other I had encountered by that time. It was where I first realized that truth is a thing to be lived, a trivial ornament to the ego if it does not illuminate and direct our day-to-day walk through life. Here is one of the passages that rang bells for me, right from the horse's mouth:
  
  “The knowledge both of the Poet and the Man of science is pleasure; but the knowledge of the one cleaves to us as a necessary part of our existence, our natural and unalienable inheritance; the other is a personal and individual acquisition, slow to come to us, and by no habitual and direct sympathy connecting us with our fellow-beings. The Man of science seeks truth as a remote and unknown benefactor; he cherishes and loves it in his solitude: the Poet, singing a song in which all human beings join with him, rejoices in the presence of truth as our visible friend and hourly companion. Poetry is the breath and finer spirit of all knowledge; it is the impassioned expression which is in the countenance of all Science. Emphatically may it be said of the Poet, as Shakespeare hath said of man, ‘that he looks before and after.’ He is the rock of defence for human nature; an upholder and preserver, carrying everywhere with him relationship and love. In spite of difference of soil and climate, of language and manners, of laws and customs: in spite of things silently gone out of mind, and things violently destroyed; the Poet binds together by passion and knowledge the vast empire of human society, as it is spread over the whole earth, and over all time. The objects of the Poet’s thoughts are everywhere; though the eyes and senses of man are, it is true, his favourite guides, yet he will follow wheresoever he can find an atmosphere of sensation in which to move his wings. Poetry is the first and last of all knowledge—it is as immortal as the heart of man.”
  
  I would only add that philosophy+poetry, as records of the knowledge by which we live, together f
  make up "the first and last of all knowledge," as well as together forming the kind of knowledge that constitutes "the rock of defence for human nature" even in times which we have forgotten the meaning of the word "human."
  
  What kind of insight does poetry record? I think poetry models perspectives that are more encompassing than the one we usually see the aspect of things by. To understand poetry is to recreate, leap into, and internalize, the perspective the poem models. It isn't "merely" a theoretical system you can look at from a remove; it is an invitation to add to your own lenses another's, and to expand thereby your capacity for making a meaningful unity out of experience. Now, I can see that Wordsworth in this understanding is just a part of a larger buried tradition. Here's Blake: “As a man is, so he sees. As the eye is formed, such are its powers.” The business of poetry, as each of them conducts it, is to form the eye, and thereby transform the whole personality, our experience, and, in doing so, to deepen our relation to our world. It is to dig wisdom deeper into the living flesh of the person, to bring it home, as it were, so that it transforms the way we see and so that it doesn't remain for us a mere compartmentalized acquisition distanced from our motivational and affective core. Reading Wordsworth's poetry, as a meditative exercise, can make insight effective into our lives by integrating it into our everyday way of looking at the world.
  
  A prerequisite for this kind of transmission of wisdom is, of course, empathic identification with another's experience in order to expand our own capacity for experience. And as Schopenhauer pointed out, compassion is the basis of morality. Exercising our capacity for compassionate identification with another's point of view means more fully participating in what it means to be a full human being.
  
  Wordsworth is another one of those underrated educators (in that he's appreciated as a purveyor of lofty but idle aesthetic exercises, not as someone with something to teach about being human, at least not outside the literature departments). Yet he is someone who can teach us to tap into capacities for relating to our world that we didn't know we had. In doing so, he gives us more, richer, and deeper material to reflect on. Poetry plants the lush garden of experience that philosophy reflects on, prunes and organizes. I am starting to think, more and more, that both philosophy and poetry are needed for the full realization of the human psyche's powers to perceive, to experience, and to understand its experience. Reading these poems a decade ago is what, I think, first planted the seeds of this insight.
• 
  John

  Poems like "The Ruined Cottage" and "Tintern Abbey" are as close to perfect as poetry can be. Unpretentious, intellectual, and evocative. Wordsworth takes the simple and common and makes it achingly wonderful. Our sneering, eye-rolling, nod and wink post-modern sensibilities could certainly use a little more of the earnestness exhibited in these poems.
• 
  Quiver

  
  'Whate'er the weak may dread the wicked dare,
  Thy lot, O man, is good, they portion fair!'
  (Ode: The Pass of Kirkstone)
  

  
  
  With high hopes I embarked on a mission to enjoy Wordsworth, for all his bucolic and purifying poetic offerings. To no avail. I struggled to keep my attention on the words, though, if pressed, I recognise their melody and flow—the content behind the words is somehow too thin and straightforward, the images called forth too edenic, too trusting and naive. Also, occasionally the spiritual component is distracting.
  
  Perhaps on another day, with another mind-filter in place. Or perhaps never quite? Can one in love with Rilke and Valéry ever fully appreciate Wordsworth?
• 
  Sophie

  Wordsworth is one of my favourite poets and I have read many of his poems at different times.
  
  I read The Prelude 7th June 2016-18th June 2016. I enjoyed it but I would love to come back to it some time in the future and study it closely as I know I can get a lot more out of it.
  

  "The Poet, gentle creature as he it,
  Hath, like the Lover, his unruly times,
  His fits when he is neither sick nor well,
  Though no distress be near him but his own
  Unmanageable thoughts."
• 
  [ J o ]

  [Quick review from memory before I re-read and re-review at a later date]
  
  (This is currently on the pile on poetry that I am aiming to read at some point, having bought this for university but probably didn't really pay much attention at the time. I'm not the biggest Wordsworth fan but I'm sure he'll have something decent within this brick of a book.)
• 
  Flynn William

  Good but wouldn't recommend reading after Blake.
• 
  Alex

  4 or 4.5 (leaning towards 4.5)
  
  To be transparent, I didn't read every poem in this collection (since it encompasses most of Wordsworth's works), but from what I did read, damn, he knew how to write good poetry.
  
  Most of the poems are highly accessible (to the point that they feel childish) and carry very profound and interesting statements on nature, memory, industrialization, childhood, and philosophy. He wrote in many poetic styles, ranging from sonnets to epics to shot narrative poetry. Even his longest work, The Prelude, is just as accessible as it is profound. Every section has a double meaning, and it's up to the reader to decide how analytical they want to treat the poetry or whether they want to read it at face value. Whichever way you read it, it's a fantastic poem. If you enjoy romanticism, Wordsworth is a great poet to read.
• 
  Adam Tierney-Eliot

  An excellent collection that contains many of Wordsworth's most memorable poems while also helping to convey the important role that place played in his work. The edition reminds us of the characters and landscapes that draw people to his poetry today. These poems tell us that the space and people around us are worthy of notice. In this way he reminds me of HD Thoreau, whose relationship with the region of New England was as intense as Wordsworth's relationship with the Lake District.
  
  An added bonus to this collection is that it makes a great companion to Stephen Gill's biography of Wordsworth as he also edited this collection. My reading of the biography has slowed as I frequently stop to look up the poems Gill references there.
• 
  Brett

  Oh, Wordsworth. I have read at least a little bit of the output of almost all of the great English romantics that are considered part of the traditional cannon. I enjoyed a lot of their work, but no poet of that age could ever speak to me like Wordsworth.
  
  This volume is over 1,000 pages long, so not every poem collected here is great. And the conventional criticism that later Wordsworth is not as good as young Wordsworth is certainly true. But Wordsworth's view of poetry as "a man speaking to men" and his profound relationship with nature that comes through so often, make him readable even 200 years after most of these were written. Perhaps not as dynamic as Blake, perhaps less intellectual than Coleridge, Wordsworth speaks with undiminished clarity and sincerity that is unmatched among the romantics. There is no better volume to put in your backpack for a walk in nature on a pleasant day.
• 
  Christopher Manieri

  Wordsworth, the inspiring Romantic, is one of my favourite poets of all-time. I love his “Ode: Intimations of Immortality”, in which he exalts the joy of youth. Wordsworth’s poems exemplify a passionate quest for the Infinite through his appreciation of the beauty of nature and the beauty of the mind itself. This beauty leads to the Divine. His fascinating epic “The Prelude” shows the development of his thought and philosophy.
• 
  Christopher Barclay

  Give it a chance, and this book will surprise you. I don't read much poetry, but I remember reading this aloud to myself in my bedroom and being pleasantly surprised with how beautiful the stanzas were. There's also so much commentary about morality, beauty, ethics, etc. – truthfully, though, I just enjoyed the poetry for how it sounded. Something about the rhythm reminded me of the poems Dad used to read to me as a kid – Robert Frost, Poe, Coleridge, etc.
• 
  Amateur-Reader

  I read that edition from cover to cover except the notes. William Wordsworth is an exceptional poet indeed. He knows how to relate external landscape and atmosphere to the internal essence and feelings. William is an alt environmentalist and he depicts nature in an impeccable mode. From Lyrical Ballads, to narrative poems, and the autobiographical The prelude, nature is referred to and is emphasised in most of the poems. It is all in all a worthy experience of reading.
• 
  Rahul Anand

  One of the finest poet of the English language. His most of the poems reflect about nature and scenery of her beauty. His works are a real masterclass. I remember one of his poem 'The solitary reaper' that has struck my heart at the core. His poems are realistic, sarcastic and beautiful to read or sing it.
• 
  Andrew Noselli

  I have recently read the complete works of William Blake and Walt Whitman and I thought I William Wordsworth was the piece missing from my poetic imagination, unifying these two giants. I'm going to be reading the major works of Percy Shelley sometime before the end of the year.
• 
  Doris Raines

  NICE BOOK.
• 
  Cyprien Saito

  Poems I read in my childhood.
• 
  Aladdin Aldair

  Paginated pulchritude
• 
  Vishvapani

  An excellent edition with helpful notes throughout. The 1805 version of the Prelude is certainly the one I want to have to hand to read and reread.
• 
  Angela (BlondeBooks)

  Read for my English class, British Literature and Culture: Romanticism and the Anthropocene.
• 
  Steffi

  I don’t know how to explain it but this man GETS it. Every profound experience I’ve ever had in solitude, surrounded by nature, put to words. Absolutely bussin 😫
• 
  Jessica

  Okay. I have a real problem with William Wordsworth, for a number of reasons.
  
  1. He's totally ripping off Charlotte Smith.
  2. He completely took over Lyrical Ballads with his trite sayings about daffodils, when Coleridge's poems are really what interests (me, at least) the most.
  3. His hypocritical turn to hardcore Anglicanism and his seeming surrender at the end of his life really bug the revolutionary Romantic in me.
  4. If I read "Tintern Abbey" one more time, I'm going to throw up.
  
  That being said, Wordsworth is a terribly, terribly important literary figure, and some of his works have serious merit and are highly interesting. It's just that I get tired of him being touted as "the ultimate Romantic," when I feel there are so many other diverse directions in which to puruse Romantic studies.
• 
  Briana

  Mehhhhhh...I only read the Prelude. Once again, I learned how immature and impatient I am as a reader and how I don't appreciate nice things. I wish I was grownup enough to enjoy hearing about someone wandering around and around in nature and becoming more and more self-aware. Well, no, I don't wish that, but it probably would have helped.
  
  I don't think I would have liked to have known Wordsworth. Not that there's anything wrong with him or that I dislike him on a moral level, but I feel like our personalities clash a bit.
  
  I did like the part where Wordsworth didn't like college very much and got drunk at a party and then had to run like an ostrich to get to chapel. That was fun. (You know those moments where you finally decipher a long passage and it ends up being funny and normal-person-esque and funnier because you had to work at it? Yeah. That was this passage.)
• 
  Mack

  Of course, I have no business rating Wordsworth. But he is so sad, so unrelentingly, depressingly sad, poem after poem. I suppose that in that day, he was regarded as serious, but today, to a citizen of this modern world in this country, he is not serious - he needs help. Maybe operating and writing on the verge of what we might call clinical depression was more natural then. I don't know and I have no right to guess. It's interesting, though. How many of those old characters seemed to take life too seriously? We sometimes think they were just enchained by a relentless morality, but I wonder if theirs wasn't simply a harsher world and a harder life?
• 
  Meaghan

  Even at 28, I can understand both the joy and the longing that come from looking back on times when you have connected with nature in the past. One can only hope for more opportunities in order to build up a catalogue of such memories, so as to reflect on them all when much older and create a happiness in your imagination by revisiting them in your old age. I love the importance Wordsworth places on imagination and the role that it can take in taking control of our own state of mind and being. Beautifully written with modest humility and flattering invocations to Coleridge.
• 
  Daniel Ramírez Martins

  William Wordsworth is a true genius. I really liked this book, even though I'm not very into romantic poetry, he really shows great talent, I've even found perfection in some of his creations.
  
  He puts all his love to nature and the countryside into such beautiful words that also are very evocative! You can feel him painting a gorgeous, pure landscape as you read poems like "Lines written a few miles above Tintern Abbey".
  
  I'd totally recommend this book.
  
• 
  Neil

  "Our birth is but a sleep and a forgetting:
  The Soul that rises with us, our life's Star, 60
  Hath had elsewhere its setting,
  And cometh from afar:
  Not in entire forgetfulness,
  And not in utter nakedness,
  But trailing clouds of glory do we come"
  
  Ode on Intimations of Immortality