William Wordsworth

Personal life
➔ He was born on April 7 1770 .
➔ From Cumbria, England,a part of the Lake District - influenced his poems
massively.
➔ His mother died when he was eight - influences some poems.
➔ His father was often not around so he spent time with his grandparents in an
even more rugged and wild place.
➔ Orphaned whilst at school, his father died.
➔ He went to Cambridge Uni.
➔ Went to Europe, coming into contact with the French Revolution - influenced
his poems.
➔ He met a French woman and she got pregnant, but he returned to England
prior to the birth. The war meant he didn’t see them for many years.
➔ In 1802 he visited his daughter, but then married an old school friend and had
five children.
➔ In 1812 2 of the 5 died.
➔ In 1843 he was made Poet Laureate but in 1847 his daughter (1 of the 5)
died.
➔ It was said he was too devastated after her death to write.
➔ He died in 1850, aged 80, from pleurisy (an illness affecting the lungs).

Extract Context
➔ It is from The Prelude, a long autobiographical poem in 14 books.
➔ He worked on it from age 28 but it wasn’t published until his death.
➔ H began to write The Prelude when experiencing depression and
homesickness when in Germany with his sister.
➔ It is a “Romantic” Poem he’s a “romantic” poet.
➔ Explores the connection between nature and human emotion and how human
identity and character is shaped by experience.

Hometown
➔ From an ancient market town in Cumbria called Cockermouth.
➔ It is at the confluence of the River Cocker.
➔ It is on the Northwest fringe of the Lake District.
➔ It is very rural which inspired his love of nature which largely influenced the
poems.
➔ It is 8 miles from the Lakeland mountains