William Wordsworth
William Wordsworth, (1770-1850). British poet. His early life is described in the long autobiographical poem The Prelude (1850). He visited France in 1791-92 and became a supporter of the French Revolution; while there he met Annette Vallon, who bore him a daughter. His first volume of poetry was published in 1793. In 1795 he settled in Dorset with his devoted sister Dorothy. In the same year he met Coleridge, with whom he collaborated on Lyrical Ballads (1798). Wordsworth’s contributions included Tintern Abbey and The Idiot Boy, as well as a critical .preface. During a trip to Germany in 1798 he wrote the ‘Lucy’ poems and began The Prelude, which he continued to revise until his death. In 1802 he married Mary Hutchinson, who joined him and Dorothy in their Lake District home. Poems in Two Volumes (1807) included the. Ode: Intimations of Immortality. Wordsworth was Poet Laure- • ate from 1843 until his death.
