1779 - 1787
(1779-1787) William attended theGrammar School in Hawkshead. Got encouragement from the headmaster and then read and write poetry. During these years he made many visits to the countryside, gaining inspiration as the powers of nature exercised their influence.
1813 - 1850
In 1813 they moved to Rydal Mount, where William and Mary stayed until their deaths in 1850 and 1859. While living here, William bought the Rash field, next to St Mary's Church, originally to build a house. The house never materialised. It is now called Dora's Field, and has a splendid display of daffodils. Whilst at Rydal Mount ,William became Distributor of Stamps for Westmorland, and had an office in Church St, Ambleside. In 1820 he published his 'Guide through the District of the Lakes'. In 1842 he became the Poet Laureate, and resigned his office as Stamp Distributor. He helped to choose the site of St Mary's Church, built just below Rydal Mount, and where he was church warden frliam Wordsworth Famous Quotes
Lyrical Ballads
Gravestone of William Wordsworth
The Solitary Reaper
Behold her, single in the field, Yon solitary Highland Lass! Reaping and singing by herself; Stop here, or gently pass! Alone she cuts and binds the grain, And sings a melancholy strain; O listen! For the vale profound Is overflowing with the sound. No nightingale did ever chaunt More welcome notes to weary bands Of travelers in some shady haunt, Among Arabian sands: A voice so thrilling ne'er was heard In spring-time from the cuckoo-bird, Breaking the silence of the seas Among the farthest Hebrides.
1770 - 1779
His childhood was spent largely in Cockermouth and Penrith, his mother's home town. William and Dorothy and his future wife Mary Hutchinson attended infant school in Penrith between 1776 and 1777. William's mother died in Penrith when he was 8. His father died when he was 13, and is buried in the churchyard of All Saints Cockermouth. All Saints church rooms is on the site of the Cockermouth school that William attended as a boy.
1811 - 1813
They lived at Allan Bank for two years, with poet and friend Coleridge. They then moved to the Old Rectory, opposite St Oswald's Church, a cold and damp house, where his two youngest children died.
Born: April 7, 1770 Cookermouth, Cumberland, England Died: April 23, 1850 Rydal Mount, Westmorland, England A major English Romantic poet As one of the greatest lyric poets in the history of English literature.
In 1850 William caught a cold, and he died on 23 April, St George's day, 80 years old. He and Mary who died 9 years later have a simple tombstone in the churchyard of St Oswald's Church in Grasmere, now one of the most visited literary shrines in the world. Opposite Wordsworth House in Cockermouth is a memorial to William Wordsworth unveiled on 7 April 1970, the bicentenary of his birth.
Church and old grammar school just left of centre.
The 17th Century Church of St Michael & All Angels
Church and old grammar school just left of centre.
1799 - 1808
In December 1799, William and Dorothy moved into Dove Cottage, in Grasmere. Dorothy was William's secretary, as William dictated his poetry. In 1802 William married his childhood companion Mary Hutchinson, and the first three of their five children were born. Samuel Taylor Coleridge and Robert Southey moved in to Greta Hall in Keswick. Southey, who was poet laureate from 1813 - 1843, lived there for forty years.
William Wordsworth(1770-1850)
William's home life
In June of that year, Catherine, his fourth child, died of convulsions(痉挛) at age 3; (痉挛) in December, the third child, Thomas, died of pneumonia 肺炎) (肺炎) Mary herself came close to dying from grief, and Dorothy was little better. William wrote a very touching sonnet on Catherine's death some years later, called "Surprised by Joy". His father John was estate agent to Sir James Lowther, who owned the house(Wordsworth House house(Wordsworth House). William has an elder brother Richard, a younger sister Dorothy and two younger brothers John and Christopher.
Will no one tell me what she sings? Perhaps the plaintive numbers flow For old, unhappy, far-off things, And battles long ago: Or is it some more humble lay, Familiar matter of to-day? Some natural sorrow, loss or pain, That has been, and may be again?