William Wordsworth

Name - William Wordsworth
Nationality - English
Lifespan - 1770 - 1850
Father - John Wordsworth, lawyer
Educated - Hawkeshead Grammar School and St Johns College Cambridge
Career - Poet and author
First Published - 1798

Some poems

1.Daffodils

I wandered lonely as a cloud

That floats on high o'er vales and hills,

When all at once I saw a crowd,

A host, of golden daffodils;

Beside the lake, beneath the trees,

Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.

Continuous as the stars that shine

And twinkle on the milky way,

They stretched in never-ending line

Along the margin of a bay:

Ten thousand saw I at a glance,

Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.

The waves beside them danced, but they

Out-did the sparkling leaves in glee;

A poet could not be but gay,

In such a jocund company!

I gazed—and gazed—but little thought

What wealth the show to me had brought:

For oft, when on my couch I lie

In vacant or in pensive mood,

They flash upon that inward eye

Which is the bliss of solitude;

And then my heart with pleasure fills,

And dances with the daffodils.

2.I wandered lonely as a cloud

I wandered lonely as a cloud

That floats on high o'er vales and hills,

When all at once I saw a crowd,

A host, of golden daffodils;

Beside the lake, beneath the trees,

Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.

Continuous as the stars that shine

And twinkle on the milky way,

They stretched in never-ending line

Along the margin of a bay:

Ten thousand saw I at a glance,

Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.

The waves beside them danced, but they

Out-did the sparkling leaves in glee;

A poet could not be but gay,

In such a jocund company!

I gazed—and gazed—but little thought

What wealth the show to me had brought:

For oft, when on my couch I lie

In vacant or in pensive mood,

They flash upon that inward eye

Which is the bliss of solitude;

And then my heart with pleasure fills,

And dances with the daffodils.

Famous Quote by William Wordsworth
"That best portion of a good mans life, His little, nameless,
unremembered acts of kindness and of love."
William Wordsworth

Biography

It was William Wordsworth who made a deep poetic appreciation of nature, closely akin to a religion, an imperishable part of English Literature. Love of nature was not an incidental or decorative part of his verse; it was its chief impulse and theme. Wordsworth,Coleridge and Southey were called in their own day The Lake Poets, because they were friends who lived near each other in the English Lake District. But it was only in their youth that they had a deep influence on each other. Wordsworth was born in Cockermouth, Cumberland just outside the Lake District, on April 7th 1770. His father was the agent of the first Earl of Lonsdale, a wealthy but eccentric nobleman with great local influence. William was only thirteen when his father died, leaving five children (four boys and one girl). The Wordsworth family would have been fairly well off if the Earl had paid the money he owed to their father but he refused to do so and they were consequently brought up by their grandparents in a plain and simple way. Money was found, however, to educate the children. Richard, the eldest boy, became a lawyer like his father. William and the youngest boy went to Cambridge and the remaining son went to sea. At college William made little distinction in learning however his brother Christopher became Master of Trinity. After he had taken his degree he published his first book of poems descriptive of his European travels as a student and the Lake District. The sale of the book was small but reached Coleridge and Southey which is how they became great friends.