William Wordsworth

WILLIAM WORDSWORTH

A PROFILE IN ROMANTICISM

LaKim Davis

British Literature, Semester 2

Professor

March 12, 2007

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WILLIAM WORDSWORTH

A PROFILE IN ROMANTICISM

I chose to write about William Wordsworth as a case study of the Romantic period because his life I feel closely resembles the lives of today's students, myself included. While a lot of the works studied through this course are sometimes hard to interpret (romanticism is classified by contradiction), when put into context as it applies to modern youths, a clearer picture begins to form. William Wordsworth was orphaned by his mother's death at an early age. His father, a successful lawyer, had not much of an inclination towards raising children and thus William and his siblings were placed in boarding schools. Orphaned completely by the age of thirteen with the death of his father, William became a bit unsettled. The only evidence of the affects of his parents passing on Wordsworth became somewhat apparent only through his poetry. The Prelude, Book V describes briefly the passing of his mother. I realized through my research that most of the tragedies suffered during the initial years of his youth and well into adulthood were explored only through his writings.

Wordsworth was a tourist, typical of most artists during the romantic period. He would take walking tours of considerable length. For instance, while in his senior year of college, Wordsworth took a walking tour of Europe. I can't imagine taking such a trek today but would think that time spent with nature, God, and self would present a unique

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opportunity. If at the end of such a walk, one has not found him/herself (philosophically speaking); perhaps it is better to be lost forever.

Wordsworth's life, like the works that defined the Romantic period was full of contradictions and chaos. Besides losing both parents at an early age, Wordsworth was separated from his four siblings, his uncles all but disowned him, and he was separated from the woman he loved and with whom he'd conceived a child; fallout of the war between England and France. Politically, he was also divided. He wanted to be loyal to England but most of his associates were radicals. He also lost a dear friend to Tuberculosis. All of this pain and suffering helped to form Wordsworth's writings. It was during his time of discontent that he wrote some of his most memorable works, namely Lyrical Ballads. Wordsworth, as I understand him was writing about the idea of nature and the idea that God did not intent for humans to be separate from nature. He used writing as a way of explaining his political views unapologetically. The