William Wordsworth

Born: 07/04/1770 Died: 23/04/1850 Gender: Male Genre: Romantic poetry Occupation: Poet Laureate

The work of the Romantic poet William Wordsworth was revolutionary in its day. Unlike the poets who had come before him and focussed on grand, moralising themes, Wordsworth believed that poetry should explore the purity and beauty of nature, and the deep human emotion inspired by the natural landscape, in particular that of the Lake District where he lived for many years. Wordsworth was horrified by the industrialisation of Britain and by the social injustices that came with modernisation – overcrowded cities, poverty, oppression – and his poetry was in many ways a wish to return to a simpler country life.

Image source: William Wordsworth by Benjamin Robert Haydon © National Portrait Gallery, London