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Title: William Wordsworth: The Major Works (Oxford World's Classics) by William Wordsworth, Stephen Gill ISBN: 0-19-284044-4 Publisher: Oxford University Press Pub. Date: October, 2000 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $16.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 4 (4 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: A Giant with flaws
Comment: Wordsworth's poem "Intimations of Immortality from Recollections of Early Childhood" is one of the master works of the English linguage. It is a poem which gives great pleasure and will greatly assist the reader in his or her own writing. Coleridge
writes in his famous literary biography that Wordsworth did not take seriously the Platonic philosophical heart of the poem. I
cannot know how accurate Coleridge's evaluation is.
I, personally, do not really like "The Prelude". It has informative points and tells something of Wordsworth's attitude. He seems quite pleased about the presence of "Negro Ladies" (his words) in London which may say something of his attitude toward race. If the poem were shorter, I should like it more I believe. Keats has a lot, usually unflattering, about Wordsworth's use of the first person in his poems.
The "Lucy" poems do not rank with "Intimations of Immortality". I find them works of great craftmanship rather than the genius that flows over in "Intimations of Immortality".
Coleridge goes into who wrote what lines in the Coleridge poem
of the Ancient Mariner, but the Wordsworth contribution is substantial.
"We Are Seven" is a look into the heart of a young child. It is
in keeping with "Intimations of Immortality" in that respect. "Intimations" is without doubt the finer poem.
Anyone who loves the English language or would master the language should read Wordsworth at his very best. "Intimations" in quality of language rises to the level of Shakespeare. Better can be said of no poetry. But, unlike Shakespeare, Wordsworth wrote a great deal of second or third rate poetry.
If you would see the English language at or near its best, read "Intimations". It may give you as it has given many lovers of poetry thoughts "too deep for tears".
Rating: 5
Summary: Great edition, well worth buying.
Comment: 'We are Seven' is based on an actual encounter Wordsworth had with a child near the River Wye in 1793.
To say he idolises an imaginary idea of Nature that doesn't exist except in Disney Land is not right. The kind of Nature he writes about exists in the Lake District.
Wordsworth writes about the harsh side of Nature as much as the unambiguously positive sides of it.
This book is most recommended and readers should dispell all those cliches that are stated about the 'Romantic' poets. The term 'Romantic' wasn't used until a long time after most of these poems were written.
Rating: 5
Summary: Wordsworth often mis-represented
Comment: Those readers of poetry who discount Wordsworth as merely a poet who "worships" Nature and holds emotion over rational thought are giving him only a shallow reading and relying on the obvious. When Wordsworth's work is read as a whole, and in context with his contemporaries and historical events, then one can begin to appreciate the depth and significance of the philosophical thought behind his poetry.
His reliance on Nature comes not from a worship of it, rather from the belief that philosophical and social issues can be found and answered in Nature. This does not contradict modern scientific thought, which relies upon the observation of the natural world through experimentation. It also eliminates the need for a rigid religious structure, because divinity can be found in Nature. Wordsworth teaches us that we learn, and grow, once we accept that we are part of the natural world, and that Nature does not exist to be conquered.
The feeling and emotion is a "natural" reaction, and therefore should not be discounted and inhibited. His poetry is an expression of this. It is not an attack on rational thought--it is a belief that one can learn through observation of the natural universe, not merely the reading of books and "dead forms."
Wordsworth was a master poet and a genius. he is well-worth the time it takes to study him.
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Title: The Complete Poems (Penguin Classics) by Samuel Taylor Coleridge, William Keach ISBN: 0140423532 Publisher: Penguin USA (Paper) Pub. Date: October, 1997 List Price(USD): $15.95 |
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Title: Lord Byron: The Major Works (Oxford World's Classics) by Jerome J. McGann, Lord Byron George Gordon ISBN: 0192840401 Publisher: Oxford Press Pub. Date: July, 2000 List Price(USD): $17.95 |
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Title: Samuel Taylor Coleridge: The Major Works (Oxford World's Classics) by Samuel Taylor Coleridge, H. J. Jackson ISBN: 0192840436 Publisher: Oxford Press Pub. Date: July, 2000 List Price(USD): $15.95 |
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Title: The Complete Poems of John Keats by John Keats ISBN: 0679601082 Publisher: Modern Library Pub. Date: 26 April, 1994 List Price(USD): $19.95 |
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Title: The Complete Poetry & Prose of William Blake by William Blake, David V. Erdman, Harold Bloom, William Golding ISBN: 0385152132 Publisher: Anchor Pub. Date: 05 March, 1997 List Price(USD): $23.95 |
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