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William Wordsworth
Bestselling series of portable anthologies, contains selected poetry and prose from some of the most famous English and Scottish poets.
192 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1990
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171 people want to read
About the author
William Wordsworth
2,165 books1,371 followersWilliam Wordsworth (1770-1850) was a major English romantic poet who, with Samuel Taylor Coleridge, helped launch the Romantic Age in English literature with their 1798 joint publication, Lyrical Ballads.
Wordsworth's masterpiece is generally considered to be The Prelude, an autobiographical poem of his early years, which the poet revised and expanded a number of times. The work was posthumously titled and published, prior to which, it was generally known as the poem "to Coleridge". Wordsworth was England's Poet Laureate from 1843 until his death in 1850.
Wordsworth's masterpiece is generally considered to be The Prelude, an autobiographical poem of his early years, which the poet revised and expanded a number of times. The work was posthumously titled and published, prior to which, it was generally known as the poem "to Coleridge". Wordsworth was England's Poet Laureate from 1843 until his death in 1850.
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Displaying 1 - 25 of 25 reviews
December 27, 2023
i didn't hate this as much as i thought i would, some of the poems were actually really beautiful but i am taking a star back bc i'm pretty sure i fucked up my analytical essay. i will return the star if i'm happy when i get my grade back.
update: i will not be returning the star. i got a 53 on my essay 😬
update: i think did well on my exam so he can have his star back
update: i will not be returning the star. i got a 53 on my essay 😬
update: i think did well on my exam so he can have his star back
June 24, 2025
Listen to poetry of William Wordsworth if:
- you’re almost 40 weeks pregnant
- you’re in the middle of a heat wave
- you’re in a literary slump
- you keep thinking about William Wordsworth
- you’re almost 40 weeks pregnant
- you’re in the middle of a heat wave
- you’re in a literary slump
- you keep thinking about William Wordsworth
May 2, 2011
She dwelt among the untrodden ways
Beside the springs of Dove,
A Maid whom there were none to praise
And very few to love:
A violet by a mossy stone
Half hidden from the eye!
Fair as a star, when only one
Is shining in the sky.
She lived unknown, and few could know
When Lucy ceased to be;
But she is in her grave, and, oh,
The difference to me!
I thought of this poem when my cat died. (Don't laugh. I miss her).
I would like to have known William Wordsworth.
Beside the springs of Dove,
A Maid whom there were none to praise
And very few to love:
A violet by a mossy stone
Half hidden from the eye!
Fair as a star, when only one
Is shining in the sky.
She lived unknown, and few could know
When Lucy ceased to be;
But she is in her grave, and, oh,
The difference to me!
I thought of this poem when my cat died. (Don't laugh. I miss her).
I would like to have known William Wordsworth.
November 4, 2024
Read the poems need for school and some more hut not the whole book. Loved them
February 18, 2024
"In weakness we create distinctions, then
Believe our puny boundaries are things
Which we perceive, and not which we have made."
I am very impressed, but at the same time unsure of how often I will reach for Wordsworth again. It took me a while to get through this collection, and I fear the majority of poems did not quite touch me. The language, however, is absolutely stunning. And then there were of course those poems that did worm their way into my heart and refused to leave, the ones that made me feel as if I was right there in England or Scotland, walking along the poet, letting his wonder at the world fill my soul.
" Come forth, and bring with you a heart
That watches and receives."
Believe our puny boundaries are things
Which we perceive, and not which we have made."
I am very impressed, but at the same time unsure of how often I will reach for Wordsworth again. It took me a while to get through this collection, and I fear the majority of poems did not quite touch me. The language, however, is absolutely stunning. And then there were of course those poems that did worm their way into my heart and refused to leave, the ones that made me feel as if I was right there in England or Scotland, walking along the poet, letting his wonder at the world fill my soul.
" Come forth, and bring with you a heart
That watches and receives."
September 1, 2022
An eclectic yet not entirely satisfying arrangement of some of Wordsworth's poems. Better curation and some notations would have enhanced this little anthology.
July 4, 2017
Such explosive and fiery inspiration streams from Wordsworth's endless well of poetic honesty, form, and style. For all of those who adore the melodies of the Romantics, jump into the heart valves of Wordsworth as he captures the beauty of both life and death with one breath.
August 4, 2025
For a long time I wondered why I don't seem to get Wordsworth. From his own time until the mid C20th he was in the poetic Empyrean - Charles Williams' opinion, that he is the third greatest poet after Shakespeare and Milton, was typical. Yet I noticed that, whilst maintaining his greatness as axiomatic, eminent critics seemed to have more to say in criticism than praise of him.
I got this book to try and clarify things; and it has. What I don't like, and what I suspect the Victorians liked, is that his poems always have a moral. Don't get me wrong, literature without morality is inconsequential; but there's a difference between morality and *a moral*. Resolution and Independence is a call to endure hard times; The Old Cumberland Beggar a plea (to whom, it's not clear) to let poor men stay out of the Workhouse; Three Years She Grew, a warning not to count your chickens. As Williams himself says, Wordsworth's poetry is always at the service of his message, not the other way round. Thus all his pieces are didactic, they may start poetically but they always ends by lecturing. None of them are really satisfying, unless it is My Heart Leaps Up in which matter and moral form a perfect whole - perfect except perhaps for that puzzling line, 'the child is father of the man'.
To an intelligentsia on which Christianity was losing its grip, this - together with W's Nature mysticism - was appealing; it seemed to hold out the possibility that poetry could be a substitute for religion. But that hope too has failed, as it was always bound to do. Emptied of it, his verse often seems arid. He's not the third greatest poet; I'm not entirely sure he was a true poet at all.
I got this book to try and clarify things; and it has. What I don't like, and what I suspect the Victorians liked, is that his poems always have a moral. Don't get me wrong, literature without morality is inconsequential; but there's a difference between morality and *a moral*. Resolution and Independence is a call to endure hard times; The Old Cumberland Beggar a plea (to whom, it's not clear) to let poor men stay out of the Workhouse; Three Years She Grew, a warning not to count your chickens. As Williams himself says, Wordsworth's poetry is always at the service of his message, not the other way round. Thus all his pieces are didactic, they may start poetically but they always ends by lecturing. None of them are really satisfying, unless it is My Heart Leaps Up in which matter and moral form a perfect whole - perfect except perhaps for that puzzling line, 'the child is father of the man'.
To an intelligentsia on which Christianity was losing its grip, this - together with W's Nature mysticism - was appealing; it seemed to hold out the possibility that poetry could be a substitute for religion. But that hope too has failed, as it was always bound to do. Emptied of it, his verse often seems arid. He's not the third greatest poet; I'm not entirely sure he was a true poet at all.
July 18, 2024
Wordsworth's poetry did not strike a chord with me. Apart from a few pretty lines, and one poem about his daughter, I could not find much to admire in this collection. Whatever the literary quality of his poems (I am not an expert), they failed to elicit an emotional response from me, be it joy or sadness. This, however, I find essential for the experience and enjoyment of poetry. I cannot put my finger on what it is that is lacking for me, but all the poems seem to just blend together.
April 17, 2022
Far more melancholy than I was prepared to encounter. Wordsworth seems unable to stop thinking about death for more than two poems in a row, regardless of subject. The most moving theme, to me, was his lament of the separation between man and nature, difficult to mend and brought on by our many trifles.
April 7, 2023
cottagecore folklore poesía históricamente adecuada, hay grandes poemas dentro de este libro, pero a medida que más leía, más me costaba trabajo avanzar, una selección más reducida de sus mejores poemas o una conexión más grande con sus formas y temas le hubieran dado a este libro más estrellas.
September 11, 2020
Found my old school copy and reread it on a sunny afternoon. Nice to revisit with my notes in the margins; helpful. Past me knew a lot more about it than current me.
August 27, 2022
Wordsworth wrote some good poems, most of which I'd read before. He also wrote some stinkers, which were new to me. Now I've read the stinkers too.
November 4, 2024
there’s just something so satisfying about the poems going from jibberish to a full blown tale to analyse
anyways hopefully wordsworth pulls through for the english exam 🤞
anyways hopefully wordsworth pulls through for the english exam 🤞
May 16, 2025
mes preferes : we are seven
three years she grew in sun and shower
i travelled among unknown men
my heart leaps up when i behold
mutability
three years she grew in sun and shower
i travelled among unknown men
my heart leaps up when i behold
mutability
November 27, 2025
holy yap
April 22, 2019
This book is a composition of many of William Wordsworth's poems. Many of his poems are literal and many are figurative. He talks a ton about nature and paints a vivid picture throughout most of his poems. It seems like many of his poems were simply him describing a beautiful scene he saw, or a simple task during the day. Many of his poems are also written to people or things, with many of them being Ode's, usually comparing a thing or a person to something beautiful and using many metaphors and similes.
Wordsworth uses imagery in almost every single one of his poems. It fills most of the book for sure. He constantly uses it to paint very vivid and beautiful pictures in your mind, probably of things and scenes that he saw in his life. This gives his poems a very calming and peaceful feeling when read. He uses very descriptive words and often focuses on the most peaceful scenery, like a sunset or the ocean, etc.
I enjoyed reading most of the poems, some are very very wordy and often boring however. They get repetitive pretty quickly because they all have the same type of feeling. I found some very deep and thoughtful metaphors in some of the poems, but most of them seem to be literal and not supposed to mean much, but I could be wrong. Either way, I enjoyed reading them. They're very well written and taught me many new words due to the fact that they were written more than 200 years ago.
Wordsworth uses imagery in almost every single one of his poems. It fills most of the book for sure. He constantly uses it to paint very vivid and beautiful pictures in your mind, probably of things and scenes that he saw in his life. This gives his poems a very calming and peaceful feeling when read. He uses very descriptive words and often focuses on the most peaceful scenery, like a sunset or the ocean, etc.
I enjoyed reading most of the poems, some are very very wordy and often boring however. They get repetitive pretty quickly because they all have the same type of feeling. I found some very deep and thoughtful metaphors in some of the poems, but most of them seem to be literal and not supposed to mean much, but I could be wrong. Either way, I enjoyed reading them. They're very well written and taught me many new words due to the fact that they were written more than 200 years ago.
October 26, 2014
As with any poetry collection, even with one author, some are better than others. Overall, I liked Wordsworth's poems.
Earth has not anything to show more fair:
Dull would he be of soul who could pass by
A sight so touching in its majesty:
This City now doth, like a garment, wear
The beauty of the morning; silent, bare,
Ships, towers, domes, theatres, and temples lie
Open unto the fields, and to the sky;
All bright and glittering in the smokeless air.
Never did sun more beautifully steep
In his first splendor, valley, rock, or hill;
Ne’er saw I, never felt, a calm so deep!
The river glideth at his own sweet will:
Dear God! The very houses seem asleep;
And all that mighty heart is lying still!
Earth has not anything to show more fair:
Dull would he be of soul who could pass by
A sight so touching in its majesty:
This City now doth, like a garment, wear
The beauty of the morning; silent, bare,
Ships, towers, domes, theatres, and temples lie
Open unto the fields, and to the sky;
All bright and glittering in the smokeless air.
Never did sun more beautifully steep
In his first splendor, valley, rock, or hill;
Ne’er saw I, never felt, a calm so deep!
The river glideth at his own sweet will:
Dear God! The very houses seem asleep;
And all that mighty heart is lying still!
September 30, 2012
I did not like the first poem in this anthology (Guilt and Sorrow) at all. It wouldn't have been too bad if it wasn't so tediously long, though. The poem proceeding Guilt and Sorrow (We Are Seven), however, I really liked. I could not bring myself to read 'The Idiot Boy' as it was just too long from the outset (I hadn't forgiven Wordsworth for wasting my time with 'Guilt and Sorrow' yet). 'To a Skylark' and 'To Sleep' were mildly enjoyable.
November 19, 2021
Revisiting Wordsworth 20 years after I studied him at school, I found myself still struggling to connect in the way I did then, but some of the poetry speaks to experiences I have now that I didn't then.
'True dignity abides with him alone / Who, in the silent hour of inward thought, / Can still suspect, and still revere himself, / In lowliness of heart.'
'True dignity abides with him alone / Who, in the silent hour of inward thought, / Can still suspect, and still revere himself, / In lowliness of heart.'
March 8, 2013
I don't much like poetry. And I know that is true, but I stubbornly insisted on finishing this nearly 700-page book, mostly for personal reasons. And I did enjoy coming across the poem that Polly gets trapped in in "The Eyre Affair."
December 2, 2015
I am not going to presume to write a review for this excellent selection of poems. I was seeking a small volume of Wordsworth as an alternative for the much heftier complete poems, volumes 1 and 2. This selection by Heaney is perfect.
November 4, 2012
A good selection.
August 9, 2021
he just GETS springtime, you know?
Displaying 1 - 25 of 25 reviews