WILLIAM WORDSWORTH THE PRELUDE FREE

WILLIAM WORDSWORTH THE PRELUDE FREE

Soon afterward, the poet and his elder brother were sent to the small, free grammar school at Hawkshead, near Windermere. His mother died in 1779, evidently of a cold. He was self-willed and often displayed such a violent temper that his mother confided she was worried more about his future than the destinies of her other children. William reportedly demonstrated no childish precocity. She never married because she preferred to become the poet's lifelong companion and informal biographer. Wordsworth's only sister, Dorothy was one year his junior. He was born one of five children to a modest land lawyer. From his childhood onward, he invariably strove for economy, frequently from necessity, but always because of principle. In fact, he preferred humble surroundings and a minimum of personal effects. Like the American Thoreau, his philosophy was one rooted in simplicity of living, and like Thoreau, he sought always to practice it. Though he appreciated the intimacy of a small circle of friends, he consistently avoided any larger portion of society. The excitement in his life took place on the level of intellect he found ideas more exciting than any other thing. His personal history was just about as uneventful as his lack of movement would lead one to expect. He died in 1850 and was buried at Grasmere, Westmoreland, about twenty-five miles from his birthplace.

Thus from the very beginning he was associated with that region which he loved more than any other, and except for brief sojourns in Britain, Germany, and Italy, he never left his beloved Lake Country. William Wordsworth was born on April 7, 1770, in Cockermouth, Cumberland, a small quiet market town in northwest England, on the edge of the Lake District.

William wordsworth the prelude