William Wordsworth A study of his poetry and its...

William Wordsworths poetry is characteristic of poetry written during the Romantic period. His pantheism and development of ambiance, the thoughts and feelings expressed and the diction Wordsworth employs are all symbolic of this periods poetry. In this paper, these characteristics will be explored and their Romantic propensities exposed. This will be done by utilizing a wide selection of Wordsworths poetry spanning the poets lifetime. His experiences are certainly mirrored in the subject matter of his creations and because of the inextricable link between Wordsworth the man and Wordsworth the poet, the poems discussed in this paper have been separated into three sections. The first section will deal with poems from the Lyrical†¦show more content†¦In the Prelude book I he describes life as a baby in his nurses arms, hearing and being drawn to the music of the river Derwent. His childhood follows along a similar theme of communion with nature. Indeed natures influence on the spirit is the underlying theme of his poems in Lyrical Ballads. Then at the age of seventeen, after the deaths of his parents in 1778 and 1783, Wordsworth was separated from his five siblings and sent away to school at St. Johns College in Cambridge. There his life was simple and unencumbered. Vacations were spent in walking tours around England and on the continent with friends. It was on these excursions that many of the ideas expressed in Wordsworths poetry began to take shape. His deep appreciation of nature developed into a more sublime, spiritual communion. The Revolutionary YearsIn 1791, Wordsworths poetic life began in earnest. He revisited France where he came into brief contact with a Frenchwoman, Annette Vallon, by whom he had a child. His reunion with his daughter is beautifully depicted in his sonnet, It is a beauteous evening, calm and free.On this visit to France, Wordsworth became engrossed in the literary work and philosophies of Jean-Jacques Rousseau. Because of this influence, he developed strong republican sympathies and became absorbed in the revolution out of genuine concern and sympathy for the French people. In 1793 he returned to England where the excitement of the revolution quickly descended into