British Studies on Wordsworth (Hardcover)  | Released: 2003

The reputation of Wordsworth, once regarded as the most important exponent of English Romanticism, has, strangely, been quite controversial, and the critical reception of his poetry had many ups and downs. If Arnold considers him one of the chief glories of English poetry Byron considers him as a hireling poet and a prince of dullness, and it is a fact that never in his lifetime Wordsworth came near to such popularity as that of Scott or Byron. Yet, Southey whom Wordsworth succeeded as Poet Laureate held that a greater poet than Wordsworth there never has been or will be. Tennyson was grateful to Wordsworth for what he had learned from him and kept his admiration for him on record in his verse. It will be salutary to revisit Wordsworth, with the benefit of hindsight, through the essays included in this volume most of which were written more than hundred years ago, and draw our independent conclusions. The students and teachers of English literature will certainly find these historically valuable essays, some of which are not easily accessible these days, very useful and exciting, and a scholar on Wordsworth can least afford to ignore them. Contents: Wordsworths Life: An Outline, Coleridge on Wordsworth, Hazlitt on Wordsworth, De Quincey on Wordsworth, Arnold on Wordsworth, Morley on Wordsworth, Herford on Wordsworth, Elton on Wordsworth. Table of Contents: 1. Wordsworths Life: An Outline; 2. Coleridge on Wordsworth; 3. Hazlitt on Wordsworth; 4. De Quincey on Wordsworth; 5. Arnold on Wordsworth; 6. Morley on Wordsworth; 7. Herford on Wordsworth; 8. Elton on Wordsworth