Read Wordsworth and keep away awful thoughts
April 6th, 2007 | Published in Google Books
In a note to John Peace, Esq. discussing the works of Sir Thomas Browne and the construction of a Bristol monument to the poet Robert Southey, William Wordsworth also thanks Mr. Peace for congratulating him on the occasion of his 75th birthday. He ends the note saying:
I have entered, awful thought! upon my 75th year.
And, while we here at Google Book Search cannot erect an actual monument to honor his birthday on April 7th, we can remember him with a blog post reminding readers of this great poet often consigned to the bin of "difficult poets I had to read in high school." (Although YouTube hosts some readers' creative takes on "As I wandered lonely as a cloud," "Daffodils," and "The World is Too Much with Us" that are well worth a visit.)
Wordsworth is generally classified as a "Romantic poet," a difficult category to define, but generally meaning more instinctive and concerned with the wildness of nature than poets out of the Classical tradition — so, you might say they were the rebels of their day. Sample this great poet, and you may find yourself taking a book of his out of a library or buying one of the many collections of Romantic poets you can browse and easily click through to buy in Google Book Search.
I suggest trying these three classics to start:
- "Tintern Abbey"
- "Ode: Intimations of Immortality"
- “The Prelude”