![]() Wordsworth’s literary career really took off when in 1795 he met fellow poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge. His family eventually settled down in Grasmere in the Lake District. He would continue to travel, finding further inspiration for his poetry.īack in Britain, he would go on to marry his childhood sweetheart Mary Hutchinson with whom he would have five children, sadly only three of whom would reach adulthood. It was in France that some of Wordsworth’s earliest poetry, “An Evening Walk and Descriptive Sketches”, was published in 1793. Leaving before her birth, he would later return to France in 1802 with his sister to meet her. His travels also had an impact on his personal life, conceiving a daughter called Caroline in France. The context of the French Revolution and the rise of democratic values based around equality were concepts which would influence him. Whilst living in France, Wordsworth became increasingly aware of social issues affecting everyday men and women. Departing from Dover in July 1790, the two young men set off on a walking tour of Europe, an experience which would influence his literary work as well as his political and social conscience. In his final summer as a Cambridge student, he decided to tour the Alps with his friend Robert Jones. However it had an important effect on challenging his ideas and evolving attitudes to life. This became a critical influence on Wordsworth’s work, his focus on nature forming the backbone of the Romantic Movement and its spiritual journey through literature and art.Īfter Hawkshead School, in October 1787 Wordsworth moved on to St John’s College Cambridge where, as he himself would later note, he did not achieve any particular brilliance. He had already become strongly influenced by his natural surroundings whilst staying at Penrith, choosing to wander away from his sad and stifling family life and embracing the natural world instead. It was whilst staying in this community with its strong Quaker tradition that he began to formulate his own opinions on matters pertaining to religion, society and nature. Whilst at Hawkshead he boarded with Hugh and Ann Tyson at a local hamlet. ![]() With the assistance of his schoolmaster he was also encouraged to write poetry, an important influence for this talented young boy. William’s time at Hawkshead was productive, as his new curriculum embraced mathematics and literature as well as Latin which became a particular favourite for Wordsworth. To complete his schooling he was sent to Hawkshead Grammar School which had a much stronger emphasis on scholarly pursuits and was a stepping stone to higher education. He remained at Penrith where his initial education was based on tradition and religion. William was taken in by his mother’s family, sadly separating him from his sister Dorothy with whom he had developed a close bond, as she was sent away to live in Halifax with their mother’s cousin. Tragically William’s mother died when William was seven years old and his father passed away just six years later. It was in this setting that Wordsworth, for long periods of time, would find himself out in the countryside, an escapism both figuratively and literal. Whilst his exposure to literature was critical, it was his childhood in the Lake District and his time spent at his grandparents’ house at Penrith which would have a notable impact on Wordsworth’s subject matter in his poetry. Wordsworth’s wealth afforded William the opportunity to use his father’s library to learn and be inspired by some of the literary greats. Nevertheless, despite their strained relationship, John Wordsworth did leave an important impression on young William, instilling in him the importance of literature. However his childhood was not a happy one: the children’s relationship with their father was not close and would remain so until his death. He grew up in an impressive mansion house in the Lake District. He would remain close to his sister Dorothy throughout his life like William she also became a poet. William was born in Cockermouth in Cumbria on 7th April 1770 to John Wordsworth, a legal agent and his wife Anne, and was the second of five children. One of England’s most beloved poets and a pioneer of Romanticism, William Wordsworth was made Poet Laureate in 1843.
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