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Wordsworth and lyrical archaeology: the poetics of prehistorical imagination in "The Brothers".(William Wordsworth)(Critical Essay)

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From: Wordsworth Circle
Date: 20030322
Author:Rzepka, Charles J.

Compared to equally familiar poems in Lyrical Ballads, "The Brothers" received little attention, despite Wordsworth's high opinion of it--at one point he intended to make it the first of the new poems to appear in the second volume of the 1800 edition (Reed 76n31). It grew out of a story he heard with Coleridge on a visit to Ennerdale during a walking tour of the Lake District in October and November, 1799, before he and Dorothy decided to settle in Grasmere. The poem reflects William's troubled thoughts about his relationship to his own brother, John, who had just left their ...

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