William Wordsworth, 1770 – 1850. Born in Cockermouth in West Cumberland. His mother died when he was eight years old and father at age thirteen. At a young age William was encouraged toward his gift for poetry by his headmaster William Taylor, whose library Wordsworth made a habit to use voraciously. He earned a degree at St. John’s College, Cambridge University.

As a young man Wordsworth was interested by France where he traveled often, learning the language and working as a tutor. He fell in love with the French woman Annette Vallon. The two had a daughter, Caroline, and planned to marry but economics drove Wordsworth back to England. Before he could return the family was separated by war, never to be reunited.(Wordsworth)

In the Descriptive Sketches Wordsworth says:

 “Were there below, a spot of holy ground.

By Pain and her sad family unfound,

Sure Nature's God that spot to man had giv'n. . .”

"Nature's God" is not necessarily the same as the Christian God; and examination of his writings later in the decade suggests that Wordsworth was becoming increasingly reserved on these matters.” (Beer)

“Wordsworth had gone up to Cambridge, satisfying his family that he was intent on preparing for Holy Orders. But alas, he had since left school to tour the Alps, to fall in with the London Dissenting Societies and other radicals, clerical or otherwise, to bond eventually with his sister to a degree that may well have made everyone uncomfortable, and by 1796 to have formed close ties with the Unitarian radical Coleridge and the convicted seditionist John Thelwall. As he admits both in Descriptive Sketches and The Prelude, he was not pleasing his relatives. Yes, the first edition of Lyrical Ballads had appeared in 1798, but in the eyes of those he had disappointed that scarcely betokened a job.” (Fry)

For a few short years Wordsworth collaborated with his colleague Samuel Taylor Coleridge . The two were close friends and neighbors, trading inspiration as well as verse, while William and his sister lived at Alfoxden House, Somersetshire.

Works cited

Beer, John. "The Paradoxes Of Nature In Wordsworth And Coleridge." Wordsworth Circle 40.1 (2009): 4-9. MLA International Bibliography. Web. 5 Feb. 2013.

Fry, Paul H. "Time To Retire? Coleridge And Wordsworth Go To Work." Wordsworth Circle 41.1 (2010): 23-29. MLA International Bibliography. Web. 5 Feb. 2013.

Wordsworth, William The Romantic Period. Comp. Deidre Shauna Lynch and Jack Stillinger. 9th ed.

New York: W.W. Norton & Company, Inc., 2012. 270-272. Print. Vol. D of The Norton Anthology English Literature. 4 vols