Wordsworth: A Life

A departure from Juliet Barker's usual easy going style. Still remarkably informative like The Bronte's but feel this is rather heavy going.

A fantastic piece of work. It brings the poet truly to life.

Interesting

This is very readable and informative. It interweaves his life and poetry very effectively. My only criticism of this edition is that the print is very small and a strain upon the eyes.

Very good book

This is a splendid narrative, but be alert that the Penguin paperback is "abridged for paperback publication." And it doesn't say just how much is abridged, or what. Research scholars will want the hardback; general readers can probably do with the paperback.

Research over several years has resulted what is a very readable biography of over 800 pages (which was published in 2000), plus another 100+ pages of notes, so the sheer size alone may not be something that the faint hearted are looking for. Wordsworth himself may well have used an analogy in terms of the reading of this book being like an ascent of Scafell Pike, a hard slog, but well worth it for the perspective and views achieved.I know the English Lake District and western Cumbria well and I think this helped me personally enjoy many passages of this book to the full extent, but the book is so well written in such great detail, I doubt anyone will fail to appreciate it. The earliest parts of the book which deal with the subject’s childhood and then his more radical years where certainly my favourite parts of the biography. On first discovering ‘the lakes’ as a child in the 1960s I was in awe of the mountainous areas and my imagination ran wild, so it was good to find that I had this in common with the young Wordsworth. If anyone begins to read this work thinking of Wordsworth as a rather boring character they will soon have reason to alter this perception having read about his more radical youth, time spent in revolutionary France where he falls in love and a child is the result. The fact that Wordsworth has this child in France has implications for him until and after the end of his life. Later there is the friendship with Coleridge and this is dealt with in detail throughout and having read of the early association between the two men (The Making of Poetry by Adam Nicolson 2019) I was pleased to read as to how this developed over time. Numerous other associates and family members are dealt with in some detail throughout, not least of course being his sister Dorothy.In a book of this size there are bound to be a few dry pages but overall the reader is kept interested. I did eventually find the constant reminders and intricate detail about the family financial concerns a wee bit wearisome. Despite financial problems it did not prevent the subject’s many tours of parts of the UK and Europe and again these are written of in some detail as are details of family life at Dove Cottage and Rydal Mount. Many names of visitors crop up with which most readers will be familiar. Family troubles and sorrows occasionally touch the heart. Wordsworth’s later life is dealt with in detail and we see him change from radical young man and often criticised poet to conservative elder and revered Poet LaureateI had read the author’s biography of the Brontes some years ago, so when looking for a good biography of William Wordsworth I was drawn to this one and it did not disappoint, although perhaps it did not reach the heights of the former work. Definitely recommended as an exceptional biography of a great poet, but whilst much of Wordsworth work is quoted in the text, do not come to this book expecting extensive critical comment of his work as this is most certainly not the focus of this book and for me it benefited from that.