Born in Cockermouth in Cumberland in 1770. Born in Cockermouth in Cumberland in 1770

Born in Cockermouth in Cumberland in 1770.

• Born in Cockermouth in Cumberland in 1770.

• 1791: B. A. Degree at St John’s College, Cambridge.

In 1791 he travelled to Revolutionary France and was fascinated by the Republican movement

• In 1791 he travelled to Revolutionary France and was fascinated by the Republican movement

• In 1792 he had a daughter, Caroline, from a French aristocratic woman, Annette Vallon.

In 1793 the Reign of Terror and the war between England and France caused him to return to England.

• In 1793 the Reign of Terror and the war between England and France caused him to return to England.

In 1795 he developed a close friendship with Samuel Taylor Coleridge, with whom he collaborated in the 1797-1799 period to write Lyrical Ballads.

• In 1795 he developed a close friendship with Samuel Taylor Coleridge, with whom he collaborated in the 1797-1799 period to write Lyrical Ballads.

• In 1843 he became the Poet Laureate.

• He died in 1850.

1798 first edition of Lyrical Ballads

• 1798 first edition of Lyrical Ballads

• 1800 second edition of Lyrical Ballads which contains the famous Preface, the Manifesto of English Romanticism.

• 1807 Poems in Two Volumes

• 1814 The Excursion

• 1850 The Prelude

From the Preface to Lyrical Ballads

• From the Preface to Lyrical Ballads

• “The principal object […] was to choose incidents and situations from common life […] to make these incidents and situations interesting by tracing in them […] the primary laws of our nature”.

From the Preface to Lyrical Ballads

• From the Preface to Lyrical Ballads

• “What is a poet? […] He is a man speaking to men: a man […] endued with more lively sensibility who has a greater knowledge of human nature, and a more comprehensive soul, than are supposed to be common among mankind”.

From the Preface to Lyrical Ballads

• From the Preface to Lyrical Ballads

• “Poetry is the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings: it takes its origins from emotion recollected in tranquillity

• (…) In this mood successful composition generally begins, and in a mood similar to this it is carried on”

Man and nature are inseparable

• Man and nature are inseparable

• The view of nature is pantheistic

• Nature comforts man in sorrow, it is a source of joy and pleasure, it teaches man to love and to act in a moral way.

The poet = a teacher

• The poet = a teacher

I wandered lonely as a cloud

• I wandered lonely as a cloud

• That floats on high o'er vales and hills,

• When all at once I saw a crowd,

• A host, of golden daffodils;

• Beside the lake, beneath the trees,

• Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.

• Continuous as the stars that shine

• And twinkle on the milky way,

• They stretched in never-ending line

• Along the margin of a bay:

• Ten thousand saw I at a glance,

• Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.

The waves beside them danced; but they

• The waves beside them danced; but they

• Out-did the sparkling waves in glee:

• A poet could not but be gay,

• In such a jocund company:

• I gazed—and gazed—but little thought

• What wealth the show to me had brought:

• For oft, when on my couch I lie

• In vacant or in pensive mood,

• They flash upon that inward eye

• Which is the bliss of solitude;

• And then my heart with pleasure fills,

• And dances with the daffodils.

PERSONIFICATION

• PERSONIFICATION

• flowers a crowd (l. 3), dancing (l. 6) their heads (l. 12), glee (l.14),jocund company (l.16)

• SIMILE

• flowers stars in the milky way (l.7),

• Nature is joyful and alive. The daffodils have the same dignity Man has in a universal order .