Radical Wordsworth

A bold and bracing account, masterful with its material, patiently brilliant in reading the poems, and gloriously convincing about its subject's social significance . . . a finely authoritative reading, rather than simple record, of Wordsworth's life . . . the distillation of a lifetime's expertise by a leading scholar and biographer.--Daily Telegraph Radical Wordsworth . . . is guided by enthusiasm. It is all the better for it. This excellent, intellectually rousing book is about the young poet. This is Wordsworth the dreamy, serious radical glimpsed flying across frozen lakes on his skates, or marvelling at revolutionary Paris, or falling in love with the beautiful Annette Vallon in France. This is the Wordsworth who was the 'pure emanation of the spirit of his age', who pitied the poor, loved the natural world and believed 'all that we behold is full of blessings.' --The Times This new book, like everything Bate writes, richly repays reading, and bears comparison with his pioneering life of Ted Hughes. --John Carey, Sunday Times In this energetic literary biography . . . Bate . . . makes a strong case that, when Wordsworth was good, he was transformative. . . . Appealingly conveying his own love of and frustrations with Wordsworth, Bate demonstrates in his delightful volume how, flaws and all, the poet 'made a difference' in the way future generations would think and feel. --Publishers Weekly A captivating read. Jonathan Bate has produced a life of the longest living major Romantic poet foreshortened through those 'spots of time' that left their most enduring impact on his mind. --Denise Gigante, Stanford University Jonathan Bate brings to Wordsworth's poetry a great fund of local knowledge and a sympathy both personal and profound. This remarkable biography encompasses a life story and a subtle critical commentary, but it is also an invitation to think and act in defense of the natural world, 'the place where in the end / We find our happiness, or not at all.' --David Bromwich, author of The Intellectual Life of Edmund Burke Wordsworth did indeed change the world, and Jonathan Bate superbly explains not only how the poet achieved that, but also why the change is for the better. This book has something for both those who know Wordsworth a little, and a lot. --James Engell, Harvard University This critical biography fills a long-felt need and does it superbly, making a convincing case for the great poet's originality and imaginative power. Skillfully interweaving perceptive criticism with biographical contexts, Jonathan Bate shows in depth how Wordsworth created a new poetry based in the language of ordinary life. --Leo Damrosch, author of The Club: Johnson, Boswell, and the Friends Who Shaped an Age