William Wordsworth — Profile, Rankings & Fame Trend

Summary

Updated 2026-06-09

He turned English poetry inside out in 1798 with a slim book that made everyday speech and rural life the stuff of serious verse — a pivot so sharp it named an entire literary age.

Biography

About

Born in April 1770, Wordsworth teamed with Samuel Taylor Coleridge to publish Lyrical Ballads in 1798, the collection that launched the Romantic Age in English literature. His life's central work was The Prelude, a semi-autobiographical poem of his early years that he revised and expanded repeatedly; known to friends as "The Poem to Coleridge," it was published only after his death by his wife, who gave it the title it now carries. He was named Poet Laureate in 1843 and held the post until he died of pleurisy seven years later, on 23 April 1850.

Voice

In their own words

Sourced, dated quotes from William Wordsworth

William Wordsworth

said1803

O for a single hour of that Dundee, Who on that day the word of onset gave!

— In the Pass of Killicranky ("Six thousand Veterans"), l. 11 (wr. 1803; pub. 1807)

William Wordsworth

said1803

Pleasures newly found are sweet When they lie about our feet.

— To the Small Celandine ("Pleasures Newly Found are Sweet"), st. 1 (wr. 1803; pub. 1807)

William Wordsworth

said3 Sep 1802

Ne'er saw I, never felt, a calm so deep! The river glideth at his own sweet will: Dear God! the very houses seem asleep; And all that mighty heart is lying still!

— Composed upon Westminster Bridge, September 3, 1802, l. 11 (wr. 1802; pub. 1807)

William Wordsworth

said1802

My heart leaps up when I behold A rainbow in the sky: So was it when my life began; So is it now I am a man; So be it when I shall grow old, Or let me die!

— The Rainbow ("My Heart Leaps Up") (wr. 1802; pub. 1807); the last three lines form the first lines of the long Ode: Intimations of

William Wordsworth

said1801

Much converse do I find in thee, Historian of my infancy! Float near me; do not yet depart! Dead times revive in thee: Thou bring'st, gay creature as thou art!

— To a Butterfly ("Stay Near Me"), st. 1 (wr. 1801; pub. 1807)

via Wikiquote · CC BY-SA

Gallery