William Wordsworth Biography

William Wordsworth (1770-1850): Biography

Early life:

William Wordsworth (Wordsworth) was born on April 7, 1770 in Cockermouth, Cumberland. He was the second child of five children of D. Wordsworth, attorney and agent of J. Lowther, who later received the earldom of Lonsdale. The Wordsworth lived in the north of England, in the so-called Lake District.

William's mother died early, and in 1779 his father sent the boy to a classical school in Hawkshead (a village in North Lancashire, the center of the Lake District), where the awards were given an excellent education. Already at school, William began to write poetry.

Education:

In 1787, Wordsworth entered St James's College, Cambridge University. The young man at Cambridge did not like it. Passive refusal to study became a peculiar form of protest against the atmosphere of envy and sycophant prevailing there. He became interested in writing poems. In Cambridge, the poet began to create "Salisbury Plain", "Evening Walk", "Fine Sketches", and “Residents of the Frontier Territory".

The most important event in his student years was the 1790 vacation for Wordsworth. In July, he and his university friend R. Jones crossed on foot through France, which was experiencing a revolutionary awakening, and reached the lakes in northern Italy through Switzerland.

In the meantime, Wordsworth's father died, and the Earl of Lonsdale owed him several thousand pounds, but refused to acknowledge this debt. The family hoped that after graduating from Cambridge, William would take ordination, but he was not disposed to do so.

In November 1791, the young man again went to France, to Orleans, to study the French language. There he fell in love with the daughter of a military doctor, Anette Wallon, who soon became pregnant with him. However, Wordsworth had to return to England at the request of the guardians before the child was born. On December 15, 1792, Annette gave birth to a daughter, Caroline. Wordsworth acknowledged his paternity, but could not marry.

 Shift to London:

Upon his return to England, the poet settled in London. He had no money, no specific profession, and no home of his own. For almost four years, the young man spent time in the company of London radicals, which became for him a good school of knowledge of the life of the lower classes of English society. William interacted with abandoned mothers, beggars, homeless children, vagabonds, and the crippled of the many Crown War events.

In the fall of 1794, one of Wordsworth's young friends died, bequeathed £ 900 to him. The poet immediately rented a house in which he settled in the company of his beloved sister Dorothy. From that time on, the sister was not separated from William until the end of his life.

Two years later, the Wordsworth moved to Alfoxden House near Bristol. There, William met Samuel Coleridge. The young people quickly found a common language and decided to help each other. This friendship changed not only the lives of both poets, but also the very English poetry.

During 1797-1798, they practically never parted and spent their time in "poetic amusements". Wordsworth turned to the creation of small lyric and dramatic poems that won him the love of the reading public. Many of them were written in accordance with the creative program developed by Wordsworth in conjunction with Coleridge, which assumed the destruction of the poetic canon of neoclassicism. Thus began a period in the poet's life, which Wordsworth's biographers call "the great decade."

Publication of 'lyrical Ballads':

In 1798, friends published a collection of poetry "Lyric Ballads". The preface to the collection was in the nature of a literary manifesto, which defined a new style, a new vocabulary and a new theme for English poetry. Wordsworth is the founder of Romanticism.

In fact, Wordsworth and Coleridge became the head of the so-called Lake School, or the Lake School, which had a significant and beneficial influence on English poetry, developing a taste for the study of the common man and nature. The term itself originated in 1800, when Wordsworth was declared head of the Lake School in one of the English literary magazines, and in 1802, Coleridge and Robert Southey were named members. The life and work of these three poets are associated with the Lake District, the northern counties of England, where there are many lakes. Poets-leikists splendidly sang this land in their poems. The Lake School had some influence on Byron and Shelley.

Coleridge conceived a huge poem; it was supposed to tell in it about all the sciences, philosophical systems and religions of humanity. The poet had previously named it "Brook". However, the impatient Coleridge did not have enough strength for such a grandiose plan; he soon lost interest in his idea and invited Wordsworth to start implementing it. He agreed and worked on the poem all his life, as much as forty years. The new author named his brainchild “The Hermit”. Wordsworth managed to complete only the first part of the poem, which he published in 1814 under the title "Promenade".

Marriage life:

In May 1802, the old Earl of Lonsdale died and the heir agreed to pay the Wordsworth 8,000 pounds. This significantly strengthened the well-being of Dorothea and William, who were about to marry his childhood friend Mary Hutchinson. Since the short-lived Peace of Amiens was concluded between England and France, in August all three traveled to Calais, where they saw Anette Wallon and Caroline. Moreover, on October 4, Mary and Wordsworth got married. Their marriage was very happy.

From 1803 to 1810, they had three sons and two daughters. Dorothea, who did not marry, remained to live in her brother's house. The family grew, and Wordsworth had to periodically change their place of residence, moving to more houses that are spacious. In 1806, the poet purchased his own Dove Cottage in Grasmere, Westmoreland. The family later moved to Rydal Mount near Ambleside, where Wordsworth's daughter Catherine and son Charles died in 1812.

Later life:

Published in England in 1807, the collection "Poems in Two Volumes" completed Wordsworth's "great decade". In 1813, under the patronage of Lord Lonsdale, Wordsworth was appointed State Commissioner for Stamp Duty in two counties, Westmoreland and parts of Cumberland, which enabled him to provide for his family. The poet held this position until 1842, when he was awarded a royal pension - 300 pounds a year.

Even during his lifetime, by the 1830s, Wordsworth was recognized as a classic of English literature. In the last years of his life, the poet devoted a lot of time to what his family jokingly called "darning". He constantly and persistently reworked previously created works for each next reprint.

Death:

In 1843, the poet Robert Southey died; Wordsworth was awarded the title of poet laureate and remained so until his death.  He died at Rydal Mount on April 23, 1850.