Product Description
Wordsworth: A Poetic Life is a new biography of the great father of British Romanticism. It is new in several ways, most notably in the way it approaches the life of the poet. Paying its proper respect to the classic lives of Wordsworth by Mary Moorman and Stephen Gill, it attempts to tell the story of the life through a more rigorous reading of key and representative works of the poet, through careful blending of life and poetry. Wordsworth offers the story of the literariness of the poet's life - childhood and adolescence in the Lake District, education at Cambridge, love and political radicalism in France, the long period of residence in Grasmere and Rydal, celebrity, and national and international recognition. Its reading of the poems, in tune with current theoretical practice, offers a sense of the continuities in Wordsworth's career as it moves away from familiar theories of a Golden Decade of creativity and a period of long decline. The book also works closely and rigorously with Wordsworth's poetry as a method of dramatizing the essentially poetic character of the poet's life. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Ideological Compromise
Interesting biography that "attempts to tell the story of[Wordsworth] through a more rigouous reading of key and representativeworks . . . and through a careful blending of his life and poetry." This book argues for more of a compromise between the powerful forces ofdeconstructive impulse (close readers)and the "rigidly ideologicalframework" of New Historicsm. ... Read more

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In Three Volumes. ... Read more

Product Description
Originally published in 1882-89.This volume from the Cornell University Library's print collections was scanned on an APT BookScan and converted to JPG 2000 format by Kirtas Technologies.All titles scanned cover to cover and pages may include marks notations and other marginalia present in the original volume. ... Read more

Product Description
This is a reproduction of a book published before 1923.This book may have occasional imperfections such as missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. that were either part of the original artifact, or were introduced by the scanning process.We believe this work is culturally important, and despite the imperfections, have elected to bring it back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide.We appreciate your understanding of the imperfections in the preservation process, and hope you enjoy this valuable book. ... Read more

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The sayings of Wordsworth in this volume illustrate the range of this tough-minded Romantic poet. Not only did he write some of the most beautiful lines in the English language, he was also a combination of revolutionary and realist, as well as a profound humanitarian ... Read more

Product Description
This is an EXACT reproduction of a book published before 1923. This IS NOT an OCR'd book with strange characters, introduced typographical errors, and jumbled words.This book may have occasional imperfections such as missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. that were either part of the original artifact, or were introduced by the scanning process. We believe this work is culturally important, and despite the imperfections, have elected to bring it back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide. We appreciate your understanding of the imperfections in the preservation process, and hope you enjoy this valuable book. ... Read more

Product Description
This is an EXACT reproduction of a book published before 1923. This IS NOT an OCR'd book with strange characters, introduced typographical errors, and jumbled words.This book may have occasional imperfections such as missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. that were either part of the original artifact, or were introduced by the scanning process. We believe this work is culturally important, and despite the imperfections, have elected to bring it back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide. We appreciate your understanding of the imperfections in the preservation process, and hope you enjoy this valuable book. ... Read more

Product Description
Treasury of over 170 English and American sonnets by more than 70 poets, from the Renaissance to the 20th century. Shakespeare’s "Shall I Compare Thee to a Summer’s Day?", Milton’s "On His Blindness," Wordsworth’s "The World Is Too Much with Us," many more by Spenser, Sidney, Blake, Byron, Coleridge, Longfellow, Yeats, Frost, Millay, Poe, etc. Introductory Note. Alphabetical lists of titles and first lines.
... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

Great intro and survey of sonnets
I needed a little reference with sonnet examples.
This fit the bill, and had some savory treats as well.
I am a bit time-greedy with my poetry reading, and a sonnet
is a fantastic way to get some of the best Shakespeare,
Shelley, Longfellow, Hardy, Frost, etc. distilled down
to a minute, even reading slowly.
It's great to flick open to a page
and see some masterful language on a time budget.
If you have little time, or haven't read poetry
for a while, this great little tome is fresh
entertainment.Read Shakespeare sonnets aloud
to the missus, and you'll both be entertained.
The sonnet bites back at the sound-bite!
No batteries needed, no compatibility problems,
no cell-tower fade on the train.
I love little books.. Try some today!

Great Bathtub Reading
Bertie Wooster can sing the latest Broadway melody while he scrub brushes his back, but I prefer reading poetry aloud in my acoustically-correct, ceramic-tiled bath. And I've discovered the perfect book for it: Dover's Thrift Edition of Great Sonnets.

It is from this small volume that I've learned that the world is charged with the grandeur of God ("God's Grandeur," Hopkins), that lust in action is a waste of shame ("Th' Expense of Spirit in a Waste of Shame," Shakespeare), and that listening to my lover's breathing while pillowed upon her breast beats looking at that lone, cold, bright and steadfast star any old day ("Bright Star," Keats).

And that's not all. This thin volume of sonnets is chock-full of other such keen observations.

For example, how does Wordsworth ("Surprised by Joy") manage to convey so economically that fleeting feeling of joy accidentally experienced by a man mourning the death of a loved one, that is immediately followed by his feeling of guilt for having felt it, which makes us feel how quickly times passes?

How does Archibald MacLeish reduce a cataclysmic event as large as the end of the world into so few choice words that when the circus big top blows off you feel as if the top of your head has blown off with it? ("The End of the World")

How can someone say so much in so few lines and so few words? Fourteen lines to be exact, with five strong beats or stresses per line-no more and no less-and a very exacting rhyme scheme. I don't know. I'm usually given to such wordiness that it would take me a warehouse the size of a state university filled with three-ring binders to tell you, and I still couldn't begin to touch the truth of it. However, that poets can do it never ceases to astonish me.

What's more, should my dog-eared Dover thrift edition ever fall by accident into the tub, I can cheaply replace it.

The sonnet - yes
This is yet another great value produced by Dover publication. For a small amount of money one receives ' treasures' that can help sustain one throughout one's lifetime. There are ' immortal poems' in this collection including many of the greatest sonnets ever written , sonnets by Shakespeare, Donne, Milton, Wordsworth, Keats, Hopkins, the greatest masters of the form.
I myself came to know many of these sonnets in popular editions by other publishers, editions which have commentary these 'Dover Thrifts' lack. But the poetry is here, and much of it is real food for the soul.
The collection raises the questionwhy it is that so much great English poetry has been written in this particular form- a question I do not really have the answer to.

a fine collection of familiar sonnets
A fine collection of sonnets, including many if not most of the most familiar ones.Eight from Shakespeare, four from E. Browning, four from Frost, four from Hopkins, four from Longfellow.For me at least, a more appealing collection than another I recently purchased.

quick collection of sonnets
this isn't an exhaustive collection of sonnets, nor a serious study. it is simply what it is: a short collection of sonnets that can be purchased cheaply. there are many great sonnets not included and no contemporary sonnets. but it isn't meant to be anything more than what it is. and if you love the sonnet, it's a good collection. ... Read more

Product Description
Never since their first publication have the texts of the 1798 and 1800 editions of Lyrical Ballads been printed together.Here then is the complete text of one of the most important documents of the Romantic movement--now with revised introduction, and fully updated notes. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

The best edition of an essential collection.
Wordsworth and Coleridge's 'Lyrical Ballads' was revolutionary at the time of publication, and remains one of the most important volumes in the history of English Literature. The volume contains Coleridge's famous 'Ancient Mariner', as well as popular Wordsworth pieces such as 'Tintern Abbey' and 'Michael'.

A first time reader may not quite understand what all the fuss us about, as some of Wordsworth's pieces can seem facile and at times banal, something contemporary critics savaged him for. To truly grasp the spirit of the volume the reader must take time to absorb Wordsworth's 'Advertisment' in which he outlines the 'experimental' nature of the volume, as a reaction against the the artificiality and 'innane phraseology' of the majority of popular poetry at the time.

Wordsworth uses simple language to produce intimate sketches of ordinary people: a humble begger, an idiot boy, or the female vagrant, and he does so with great sensitivity and feeling, showing us that compassion and feeling of the simplest people makes them as worthy as any privileged man. No reader will soon forget the Lucy poems, in which the narrator recalls a girl he once loved, and mourns her tragic early death. Whether Lucy was ever a real person, let alone an object of Wordsworth's affection however is another matter.

There are weak links in the collection such as 'Lines Written in Early Spring', which could be justifiably labelled 'namby-pamby' (a term Byron used to describe a certain type of Wordsworth poem). However, the most impressive piece in the whole collection must be Tintern Abbey, a poem which could never be labelled facile or 'namby pamby', it is a spiritual, philosophical, and profoundly moving poem rich with memorably powerful turns of phrase and an intoxicating pslamic quality. Tintern Abbey may very well sum-up Wordsworth's entire enterprise better than any other poem he penned. Study and understand 'Tintern Abbey' and you understand Wordsworth. As for Coleridge's 'Mariner', although it is an enchanting and strikingly original work, I share Wordsworth's assertion that it's character is somewhat at odds with the spirit of the collection.

This edition is the finest you will find anywhere. It contains both the 1798 and 1800 editions, while including extensive supporting material. A real must-have for anyone interested in English Poetry.

Wordsworth & Coleridge in their Prime: A Romantic Feast
This edition of LYRICAL BALLADS brings together both the 1798 edition (including the Advertisement that prefaced the work) and the 1800 edition (with the Preface that replaced the Advertisement) in one convenient volume.The editors, R.L. Brett and A.R. Jones, have included quite an extensive introduction, a nice bibliography, end notes to the poems, multiple appendices, and an index.It is the perfect volume to purchase if you are going to study the LYRICAL BALLADS, particularly the changes that occurred between their first and second printing.

Most of my praise will go out to this edition, as the quality of the poetry contained in it is beyond question.This early work of both Coleridge and Wordsworth finds them at the height of their powers.For those less familiar with the LYRICAL BALLADS, I will mention some of my favorite poems in the work to give you a sense of what this volume contains:

1798 Edition - "Rime of the Ancyent Marinere," "We are seven," "Lines written in early spring," "The Thorn," "Expostulation and Reply," "The Tables Turned," "Tintern Abbey."

1800 Edition - "A slumber did my spirit seal," "Lucy Gray," "Nutting," "Michael."

And now, to end this review, I shall leave you with a few lines from one of my favorite poems, one that addresses me as I spend long hours studying hard into the night to uncover the "truth" of the world:

THE TABLES TURNED by William Wordsworth

Up! Up! my friend, and clear your looks,
Why all this toil and trouble?
Up! Up! my friend, and quit your books,
Or surely you'll grow double.
...
Books! `tis a dull and endless strife,
Come, hear the woodland linnet,
How sweet his music; on my life
There's more of wisdom in it.
...
One impulse from a vernal wood
May teach you more of man;
Of moral evil and of good,
Than all the sages can.
...
Enough of science and of art;
Close up these barren leaves;
Come forth, and bring with you a heart
That watches and receives. (1-4; 9-12; 21-24; 29-32)

A clear reflection of the authors` story relationship
If you know of Wordsworth and Coleridge you might also know that they both, but Coleridge in particular, led quite stormy lives. Although this work is a representative of the not so stormy Romantic period, the poems seem to transgress from the ordinary quiet of that time in history. With "Rhyme of the ancient mariner" as the obvious headstone in the book one cannot help but feel that this is somewhat "different" lyricism. However, the two poets don't seem to be on the same mission with their work. Often the reader is pulled in different directions. Perhaps the slight confusion of this book is one of the things that has helped it survive, it is undoubtedly at the same time what justifies it and annoys the critical reader. Having said that it seem somewhat "irregular" I must add that the book contains some of the most beautiful scenery in romatic lyricism. ... Read more

Product Description
William Tyndale is the finest English translator of the Bible, and his New Testament one of the most influential works in English Literature. As a young man in pre-Reformation England, where unauthorised translation of the Bible was illegal, he heard a pompous divine claim that 'we were better be without God's law than the Pope's'. Tyndale's answer was: 'I defy the Pope and all his laws, and if God spares my life, ere many years I will cause a boy that driveth the plough shall know more of the scripture than thou dost'. Unable to do this in England, he spent the rest of his life in exile on the Continent and was executed as a heretic in 1536. His translations - of the entire New Testament and much of the Old Testament - were smuggled into England, where an eager public risked their lives to read them. His New Testament with its clear, vivid style and resonant phrases, is a masterpiece of English prose and was the basis of the Authorized Version of 1611. ... Read more

Product Description
Wordsworth: A Poet's History examines the range of Wordsworth's poetry and criticism over the course of his career.It examines the writer and his works against the backdrop of revolutionary history, public, personal as well as political. The study foregrounds the ways in which Wordsworth's account of 'self-representation in poetic language"coils around and recoils from the linguistic traumas excited by the French Revolution. The book also examines Wordsworth's patriotism and the evolution of this as demonstrated in his poetry. ... Read more

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Edited by Edward Dowden.This Elibron Classics book is a facsimile reprint of a 1893 edition by George Bell & Sons, London. ... Read more

Product Description
This scarce antiquarian book is a selection from Kessinger Publishings Legacy Reprint Series. Due to its age, it may contain imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed pages. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment to protecting, preserving, and promoting the worlds literature. Kessinger Publishing is the place to find hundreds of thousands of rare and hard-to-find books with something of interest for everyone! ... Read more

Product Description
The Critical Heritage series collects together a large body of criticism on major figures in literature. This new volume in the series includes criticism on the work of William Wordsworth during the period 1793-1820. Extremely wide-ranging in its coverage, over 250 diary extracts, letters, reviews, comments, and opinions by and about Wordsworth are gathered together here for the first time. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

$300 for a kindle book?are you insane?
I find it hard to believe anyone would pay $300 for a digital version of poems that can be found on a thousand websites for free.I have to believe that whomever posted this version for sale at such a ridiculously high price must be insane. ... Read more

Product Description
This is a reproduction of a book published before 1923.This book may have occasional imperfections such as missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. that were either part of the original artifact, or were introduced by the scanning process.We believe this work is culturally important, and despite the imperfections, have elected to bring it back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide.We appreciate your understanding of the imperfections in the preservation process, and hope you enjoy this valuable book. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Free on Google Books
This book is a scan of what appears to be a library copy of an 1876 edition of Wordsworth's prose texts, complete with someone's underlining and margin notes on the Letter to the Bishop of Llandaff (the underlining is not present on most of the other essays/ texts, as far as I can tell). Since this material is now public domain, and available for free on Google Books, I would recommend that you avoid paying 25$ for a cheap reproduction of a text that comes with someone else's margin notes. ... Read more

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THUS far, O Friend! have we, though leaving much Unvisited, endeavoured to retrace The simple ways in which my childhood walked; Those chiefly that first led me to the love Of rivers, woods, and fields. ... Read more