Literature Network » William Wordsworth

England's Samuel: Wordsworth in the "hungry-forties." (William Wordsworth)

Content courtesy of

From: Studies in English Literature, 1500-1900
Date: 19930922
Author:Gill, Stephen

The honorary degree from Oxford University and the appointment to laureateship are manifestations of the Victorian deification of Wordsworth. He was regarded as England's messiah and a poet of great virtuosity. The reiteration of his democratic and Christian poetic impulses led Wordsworth, in later years, to promote this image and revise his early poetry to conform to this image.

I

In 1820 the poet and antislavery campaigner Thomas Pringle made an arresting claim about Wordsworth. At the climax of a sonnet entitled "Poets Are Nature's Priests" he likened him to Samuel. In ...

Read the rest of this article with a Free Trial at HighBeam Research.

Other Articles on William Wordsworth

About Our Articles: We've partnered with Highbeam Research to provide these article excerpts for your research needs. However, due to copyright laws, we cannot publish the whole article. To view these articles in full length you'll need to use the link above to access the free trial at Highbeam.