In the winter of 1798-99, shut up in the freezing German town of Goslar, William Wordsworth began producing a series of lyrical fragments that appeared first in letters written to Coleridge and emerged eventually as source texts for The Prelude . These lyrics are revolutionary because they construct a new version of the autobiographical ''I''. The Revolutionary ''I'' explores the numerous voices of the poetic speaker ''Wordsworth'' and their relationship to the historical figure who shared the same name.