Literary Lives

In William Wordsworth, John Williams provides a detailed account of Wordsworth''s evolution as a poet. This includes his earliest known writing while a pupil at Hawkshead Grammar School, and his later poetry, often virtually ignored by critics. Wordsworth''s ambivalent attitude towards seeking out a public readership beyond his immediate circle of friends and admirers is a central concern of the book. This involves an assessment of the poet''s shifting sense of his political allegiances alongside the pressures of personal relationships and circumstances.