Selected Poems

William Wordsworth was born on 7 April 1770 at Cockermouth, in the English Lake District, the son of a lawyer. He was one of five children and developed a close bond with his only sister, Dorothy, whom he lived with for most of his life. At the age of seventeen, shortly after the deaths of his parents, Wordsworth went to St John’s College, Cambridge, and after graduating visited Revolutionary France. Upon returning to England he published his first poem and devoted himself wholly to writing. He became great friends with other Romantic poets and collaborated with Samuel Taylor Coleridge on Lyrical Ballads. In 1843, he succeeded Robert Southey as Poet Laureate and died in the year The Prelude was finally published, 1850.

Wordsworth is a figure of supreme interest

• Introduction - i: Introduction Section - 1: ‘My Heart Leaps Up When I Behold’ Section - 2: We Are Seven Section - 3: ‘Strange Fits of Passion Have I Known’ Section - 4: ‘She Dwelt Among the Untrodden Ways’ Section - 5: ‘I Travelled Among Unknown Men’ Section - 6: ‘Yes! Thou Art Fair, Yet Be Not Moved’ Section - 7: Address to My Infant Daughter, Dora Section - 8: Airey- Force Valley Section - 9: Yew- Trees Section - 10: Nutting Section - 11: ‘She Was a Phantom of Delight’ Section - 12: To the Cuckoo Section - 13: ‘A Slumber Did My Spirit Seal’ Section - 14: ‘I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud’ Section - 15: Resolution and Independence Section - 16: The Thorn Section - 17: Lines Composed a Few Miles Above Tintern Abbey Section - 18: ‘It Is No Spirit Who From Heaven Hath Flown’ Section - 19: French Revolution Section - 20: To A Skylark Section - 21: To Sleep Section - 22: To Sleep Section - 23: To Sleep Section - 24: The Infant M— M— Section - 25: ‘Surprised by Joy – Impatient as the Wind’ Section - 26: ‘Methought I Saw the Footsteps of a Throne’ Section - 27: ‘It is a Beauteous Evening, Calm and Free’ Section - 28: ‘The World Is Too Much With Us’ Section - 29: Composed Upon Westminster Bridge Section - 30: To—, in Her Seventieth Year Section - 31: The Solitary Reaper Section - 32: At the Grave of Burns Section - 33: Calais Section - 34: To Toussaint L’Ouverture Section - 35: September 1, 1802 Section - 36: Written in London, September, 1802 Section - 37: London, 1802 Section - 38: ODE Section - 39: Incident at Brugès Section - 40: Aix-la-Chapelle Section - 41: Mutability Section - 42: ‘The Sun Has Long Been Set’ Section - 43: Expostulation and Reply Section - 44: The Tables Turned Section - 45: Lines Written in Early Spring Section - 46: To My Sister Section - 47: Simon Lee Section - 48: A Poet’s Epitaph Section - 49: The Two April Mornings Section - 50: The Fountain Section - 51: A Night Thought Section - 52: SONNET Section - 53: To a Child Section - 54: PRELUDE Section - 55: The Two Thieves Section - 56: ‘There Is a Bondage Worse, Far Worse, To Bear’ Section - 57: Elegiac Stanzas Section - 58: Intimations of Immortality Section - 59: The Prelude: Book I Section - 60: The Prelude: Book II Index - ii: Index of First Lines