Wordsworth

Myers, F. W. H. (Frederic William Henry), 1843-190Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

3.5

Word count: 309K words
Chapters: 31

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.Wordsworth by F. W. H. MyersAuthor: Myers, F. W. H. (Frederic William Henry), 1843-1901,Language: English, Class: PR: Language and Literatures: English literature, Release Date: Aug 1, 2005

Editor's review

This is a critical biography of Wordsworth by the English poet and critic Myers. It is modest in length but combines biographical narrative with critical insight. Writing from the distance of a contemporary, the author traces Wordsworth's spiritual evolution from early passion to his retirement by the lakes, and offers concise judgments on his poetics and major works. For readers seeking to understand the origins of Romantic poetry, it provides a clear introductory path: know the man first, then understand the poetry. The prose belongs to the late nineteenth-century English review style—carefully wrought syntax and elegant diction—substantial but not light reading. It is best read alongside the preface to Lyrical Ballads or several short poems, as it can draw scattered impressions into a coherent thread. As a public-domain e-book, it is easily accessible and suited as a first stop for thematic reading rather than a final conclusion.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Literature enthusiasts who want a quick grasp of Wordsworth's life and poetics
Students taking courses on English Romantic poetry who need background material
Advanced readers accustomed to English critical biographies who are willing to read slowly and savour the details
Speakers preparing a thematic talk on the poet who need a clear thread to follow

Not a good fit for

In-depth researchers hoping for a detailed chronology and extensive correspondence
Beginners whose English reading is not yet proficient and who need Chinese translation and notes
Readers who only want poetry selections and have little interest in criticism or biography

Reading tips

Read a few of Wordsworth's short poems first, then return to the critical biography; the impressions will be more concrete.
Annotate passages where the author makes judgments and compare them with your own response to the poems.
Proceed chapter by chapter, one at a time, and retell the key points in your own words afterwards.
When you encounter unfamiliar nineteenth-century English expressions, read the whole sentence first, then revisit the meaning of the words.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

FAQ

Was this book written by Wordsworth himself?

No. This is a critical biography of Wordsworth written by F. W. H. Myers. It belongs to biography and literary criticism; it is neither the poet's autobiography nor a selected works.

Can I read it without having read Wordsworth's poetry?

You can, but you will get less out of it. The book discusses specific works and poetic ideas; if you first read a few representative poems and the preface to Lyrical Ballads, understanding will be much smoother.

How difficult is the English?

It belongs to the late nineteenth-century English review style: long sentences and rather elegant diction, not modern colloquial style. It suits readers with a college-level English reading foundation who are willing to read slowly.

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About the author

Myers, F. W. H. (Frederic William Henry), 1843-190 Author · British · 1843–1901

Frederic William Henry Myers (1843–1901) was a British poet, classical scholar, and psychical researcher who helped found the Society for Psychical Research. He was long concerned with questions of consciousness, personality, and experiences near death, and sought to bring then-marginal psychical phenomena into serious study through systematic observation and record-keeping. His major work, Human Personality and Its Survival of Bodily Death, presents this approach at length, combining philosophical reflection with an empirical spirit; his other work, Wordsworth, reflects his accomplishment in literary criticism and poetry studies. Because public information is limited, the details of his life cannot be described in depth, but the two works held in the collection show that his writing spans literature and psychical research, marked by a rigorous style and a Victorian speculative temper, and that it has had some influence on later parapsychology and consciousness studies.