The Letters of William Wordsworth: A New Selection (Letters of William and Dorothy Wordsworth)

The letters of William Wordsworth offer us a unique and vivid record of the personality and concerns of the poet, one which belies his image as a romantic dreamer obsessed with his own genius. We find, in the words of Alan G. Hill, "a Cumbrian whose feet were planted firmly on the ground of his native region and whose shrewd common sense and broad human sympathies are reflected in everything he wrote." Selected from the eight-volume definitive edition, the letters printed here can be read as a continuous narrative, taking us from his youthful enthusiasm for the French Revolution, through the idyllic years at Grasmere with his sister Dorothy, to his dignified old age at Rydal Mount. The subject matter of the letters, and the correspondents themselves, are as varied as the poet's own interests and preoccupations: topics range from literature, art, religion, and politics, to the changing landscape of the Lakes, walks in the countryside, family affairs, and the troubles and triumphs of friends and neighbors--literary figures such as Coleridge and De Quincy as well as people from many different walks of life whose names would otherwise be unknown to us but whom the poet favored with an equally deep and loyal friendship.