William Wordsworth
1770 - 1850

William Wordsworth was born on the 7th April 1770 at Cockermouth in Cumberland, 
England.  He grew up in the beautiful lake district that was later to provide 
inspiration for much of his poetry and philosophy.  His early boyhood was 
marred by the tragedy that was to accompany him throughout life.  When he was 
just eight years old his mother died,  followed by his father five years later.

From a young age, he was very aware that the way in which he lived would have a 
profound influence upon his creativity.  He later put many of his experiences 
into the largely autobiographical poem, The Prelude, recognising that this was 
an unconventional method of writing poetry: "A thing unprecedented in literary 
history that a man should talk so much about himself."

Strong contemporary opinion held that to use poetry to describe normal, 
everyday occurrences was to demean the form.  Wordsworth, on the contrary, used 
poetry to exalt the everyday and commonplace, believing it represented the 
truest part of human nature.  In his poems: "Low and rustic life was generally 
chosen, because in that condition the essential passions of the heart find a 
better soil in which they can attain their maturity. . . in that condition the 
passions of men are incorporated with the beautiful and permanent forms of 
nature."