William Wordsworth Essay, Research Paper

William Wordsworth

(1770-1850)

 Wordsworth was an English poet.

 He was born on April 7, 1770 in Cockermouth, Cumberland.

 He was the second of five children.

 Wordsworth began his occupation as a poet during his mid-twenties after studying and earning a degree that was useless degree at Cambridge.

 Some of his most famous works are ?Lyrical Ballads,? ?The Prelude,? ?Poems of Imagination,? and ?The Recluse.?

 Wordsworth was always very close to his sister Dorothy and lived with her for many years, but he finally decided to marry Mary Hutchinson in 1802 and had five children. Of those children only two made through adulthood.

 His works came during the Romantic era, the shortest literary period yet.

 This period is said to have began with the French Revolution and to have ended with the Parliamentary reforms in 1832.

 Other things that were occurring during this era were the American Revolution, the coming of Napolean Bonaparte, and the Industrial Revolution.

ABOUT THE POEM

STRANGE FITS OF PASSION HAVE I KNOWN

 It has an easy rhythmical beat that goes ABAB CDCD EFEF and so on.

 The poem is about a guy that is going to visit his Lucy. All is well until he sees her cottage. Then, he begins to imagine that she is dead.

 Critics seem to believe that this was written when his sister was dying.

 This easy rhyme scheme would have made it easy for all types of audiences to read and understand.

Miscellaneous

 Since Wordsworth was involved in some government work and lead a fairly conservative life, I believe he would have associated with people like George Bush, Jr. and Oprah.

 He probably would have listened to Eric Clapton.

 What would a Saturday night hold for him? Probably some type of political behind the scenes work or participating in a city council meeting.