William Wordsworth was an English poet whose verse is some of the most influential and important in the English language. Read more about William Wordsworth.
Some of Wordsworth’s most famous poems include ‘I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud,’ ‘Lucy Gray‘, ‘The World is Too Much With Us,’ ‘My Heart Leaps Up,’ and ‘Lines Composed a Few Miles above Tintern Abbey.’
William Wordsworth’s literary classic, ‘Daffodils,’ also known as ‘I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud,’ is one of the most popular poems in the English language. It is a quintessential poem of the Romantic movement.
I wandered lonely as a cloud
That floats on high o'er vales and hills,
When all at once I saw a crowd,
A host, of golden daffodils;
Beside the lake, beneath the trees,
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.
‘Lines Composed a Few Miles above Tintern Abbey’ by William Wordsworth is a well-loved poem that describes a speaker’s return to a specific spot along the banks of the River Wye and his understanding of nature.
Five years have past; five summers, with the length
Of five long winters! and again I hear
These waters, rolling from their mountain-springs
With a soft inland murmur.—Once again
On the surface, William Wordsworth’s ‘My Heart Leaps Up’ is about the simple beauty of a rainbow. Looking at it more closely, the poet is saying people should maintain their sense of childlike wonder well into adulthood and old age.
My heart leaps up when I behold
A rainbow in the sky:
So was it when my life began;
‘Lines Written in Early Spring’ by William Wordsworth is a beautiful landscape poem that is largely concerned with nature.
I heard a thousand blended notes,
While in a grove I sate reclined,
In that sweet mood when pleasant thoughts
Bring sad thoughts to the mind.
Milton! thou shouldst be living at this hour:
England hath need of thee: she is a fen
Of stagnant waters: altar, sword, and pen,
Fireside, the heroic wealth of hall and bower,
There was a time when meadow, grove, and stream,
The earth, and every common sight,
To me did seem
Apparelled in celestial light,
The glory and the freshness of a dream.
It is the first mild day of March:
Each minute sweeter than before
The redbreast sings from the tall larch
That stands beside our door.
‘Surprised by Joy’ is a heart-breaking poem in which Wordsworth describes his grief after his daughter passed away.
Surprised by joy—impatient as the Wind
I turned to share the transport—Oh! with whom
But Thee, long buried in the silent Tomb,
That spot which no vicissitude can find?
In ‘The Tables Turned,’ Wordsworth invites us to break free from the constraints of modern society and rediscover the natural world’s beauty and wisdom.
“The Solitary Reaper” by William Wordsworth is a recollection of the poet’s emotional experience as he listens to a woman singing in the fields.
‘Character of the Happy Warrior’ by William Wordsworth is a poem about what it means to be a “happy warrior” and what the elements of this kind of person’s life would be.
There are two poems by the title ‘To a Butterfly’ in William Wordsworth’s 1807 poetry collection, “Poems, in Two Volumes.” The first poem is the best-known in comparison to the latter one.
‘A Character’ by William Wordsworth speaks on the moral character of a segment of mankind in relation to the feelings he has for the intended listener.
In the poem ‘A Complaint’ by William Wordsworth, the first and primary emotion is loss – loss of ideals, loss of friendship, loss of love.
‘A Night Thought’ by William Wordsworth describes a speaker’s displeasure at those among the human race who do not appreciate what fortune has given them.
‘A Slumber did my Spirit Seal’ by William Wordsworth is one of five “Lucy” poems that Wordsworth published in the volume Lyrical Ballads, that he co-authored with Samuel Taylor Coleridge.
This fascinating poem, ‘Animal Tranquility and Decay,’ by William Wordsworth depicts an old man who walks in peace and tranquility. He seems to walk aloof from the cares and concerns of this world.
In the extract of ‘The Prelude’, Wordsworth presents two contrasting ideas about nature to allow the reader to decide what nature means on a personal level.
The poem, ‘Composed Upon Westminster Bridge, September 3, 1802, is a celebration of this city, referencing to the bridge over the River Thames.
‘Expostulation and Reply’ a ballad, written by William Wordsworth, tells the story of Matthew, dissuading the speaker (William) from idling away his precious time in “wise passiveness” or simply daydreaming.
‘It is a Beauteous Evening, Calm and Free’ is a sonnet by William Wordsworth written after a walk in Calais with his nine-year-old daughter Caroline.
William Wordsworth’s characteristic use of imagery and figurative language regarding the natural world is on full display in ‘It Was an April Morning: Fresh and Clear.’
Any readers familiar with William Wordsworth’s poetry, such as ‘Lucy Gray,’ know that the death of a child is a common theme throughout his works. Wordsworth suffered the loss of his own son and daughter, and those deaths seem to forever haunt him.
Financial ruin, a lost son, and hostile living conditions– these are some of the striking features of this sorrowful ballad. You may find yourself asking, how can one man maintain his values amid so many struggles?
‘Nuns Fret Not at Their Convent’s Narrow Room’ by William Wordsworth is a thoughtful poem that expresses the poet’s appreciation for his chosen path.
‘Nutting’ by William Wordsworth describes a speaker’s boyhood journey into the woods and the resulting pleasure and rage he experiences.
‘October, 1803’ by William Wordsworth describes England’s fear over an expected French invasion and how the speaker sees the world being transformed.
‘Resolution and Independence’ is one of the important poems of Wordsworth. It is a lyric poem composed in the year 1802 and published in 1807 in his collection Poems in Two Volumes.
‘She Dwelt among the Untrodden Ways’ was written in 1798. This poem is Wordsworth’s best known work from a series of five texts that form his “Lucy” series.