Abstract
Wordsworth consistently turns to love at crucial moments in his poetry and prose, yet it does not get the scholarly attention of nature, imagination, history, and ideology. This essay analyzes Wordsworthian love from its initial appearances in An Evening Walk and Salisbury Plain to its fuller development in “Tintern Abbey.” What begins in 1788 as a means to re-envision the relationships between individuals and between humans and the natural world becomes by 1798 Wordsworth's central poetic and philosophic concept, an idea of love that weaves itself through nearly every aspect of his poetry and poetics. Although there are instances where Wordsworth turns to sentimentalism, self-love, or the so-called egotistical sublime, this essay demonstrates how love works in the poetry; how it develops scholarship that portrays Wordsworth as escapist, evasive, and deluded by the Romantic Ideology; and how it reveals a fuller understanding of Wordsworth's work and the Romantic theory of love.
Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
