William Wordsworth: a life

Abstract

This biography of Wordsworth for the general reader takes account of the new information that has come to light in recent years. Officially Wordsworth was opposed to biography, parrying enquiries with the remark that his life was bare of entertainment and interest but the author views autobiography as the fundamental source of his work, as he wrote about real places and people; he memorialized his own experiences and recollections, his family, old friends and individuals met with in a chance encounters. Stephen Gill aims to present an insight into the development of his mind and the effects of old age on the poet's view of himself, his family and friends and on matters of the public and the private. The author examines all the evidence relating to Wordsworth's life and to his circle and balances this against Wordsworth's own accounts. Stephen Gill is the editor of the Oxford authors William Wordsworth.