Origins of the name:  first described as the “Lake school” by Francis Jeffrey in 1817  “Lakers” by the poet Lord Byron I. Lake Poets II. Wordsworth

I. I. Lake Poets ( 湖畔派 )  1. Area:  the English Lake District of Cumberland and Westmorland (Cumbria)  2. Time:  the beginning of the 19th century

3. Common features (1)  in their youth:  radical inclinations  later:  turned conservative  received favors from the Government.

 (2)  (2) criticizing the industrial capitalist society  (3)  (3) followed no single “school” of thought or literary practice then known

“ I was the Dreamer, They the Dream"

 an early leader of English romanticism  one of the greatest lyric poets in the history of English literature  the best-known and oldest poet among the Lake Poet

Contents  I. Life  II. three groups of his poetry  III. The major works  IV. Wordsworth’s theory of poetry  V. The importance of William Wordsworth

I. Life  Born in 1770  Hometown:  Cockermouth, Cumberland, in the Lake District  Education:  St. John’s College, Cambridge

 He saw that Jacobite took the power from Gironde, who was radical.  Lewis XIV was killed.  He became conservative in politics.

 1795  A gentleman friend gave him some money that enabled him to live in Great Lake with  his sister Dorothy who  never got married  live with William Wordsworth of all her life

 The year 1797 marked the beginning of Wordsworth's long and mutually enriching friendship with Samuel Taylor Coleridge, the first fruit of which was their joint publication of Lyrical Ballads (1798).

 Most of his poems in this collection centered on the simple yet deeply human feelings of ordinary people, phrased in their own language.

II. II. three groups of his poetry  1. Simple, rural folk:  wrote when he lived in Lake district  e.g. “Lucy Poem”: full of innocence and simplicity.

 2. Childhood:  beautiful and instructive  e.g. “We are seven”

We are seven  a short poem in the form of a dialogue between  the poet  a 8-year-old girl  The poem reveals Wordsworth’s philosophy of pre-existence of soul  The girl is too innocent to recognize death.

Then did the little Maid reply, “Seven boys and girls are we; Two of us in the church-yard lie, Beneath the church-yard tree.”

“You run above, my little Maid, Your limbs they are alive; If two are in the church-yard laid, Then ye are only five.”

“Their graves are green, they may be seen”, The little Maid replied, “Twelve steps or more from my mother’s door, And they are side by side.

 3. Nature  the most important part  about animals, plants, emotions  e.g.  “To a butterfly”  “To a skylark”  “My heart leaps up”

Characteristics of Wordsworth’s Poems  1. Theme of poetry: incidents and situations chosen from common life.  2. Language: really used by common people.

 3. Ordinary things are to be presented in an unusual way. (“We are seven”)  4. Trace the primary laws of human nature.

IV. theory of poetry  Described in the “Preface” to the second edition of Lyrical Ballads, published in 1800  “[P]oetry is the spontaneous overlow of powerful feelings...recollected in tranquility”

 It is concerned with the emotions of the individual poet as opposed to being concerned with great events in human history.

 Although nature is a persistent subject, the real subject of the poetry is  the thoughts and feelings of the poet

 “The principal object was to chuse (choose) incidents and situations from common life, and to relate or describe them, throughout, as far as was possible, in a selection of language really used by men” (Preface to Lyrical Ballads, 1802)

 “Low and rustic life was generally chosen.”  The aim of this poetry is to refresh our sense of wonder in the every day, the trivial, the familiar

 The purpose of poetry is to “throw over [situations from common life] a certain coloring of imagination, whereby ordinary things should be presented to the mind in an unusual way”.

 Sometimes it achieves a sense of wonder through the use of the supernatural or altered states of consciousness.

V. The importance of William Wordsworth  the leading figure of the English romantic poetry  a voice of searchingly comprehensive humanity  one that inspires his audience to see the world freshly, sympathetically and naturally.

 The most important contribution is that he has  not only started the modern poetry  but also changed the course of English poetry  by using ordinary speech of the language  by advocating a return to nature

III. III. Major works  1. Lyrical Ballads  2. Tintern Abby  3. The Preface,1800

1. Lyrical Ballads  The 1st edition was published in  The idea: to write a new kind of poetry  which could be read and understood by everybody

 It was here that Coleridge’s “Rime of the Ancient Mariner” and Wordsworth’s “Tintern Abbey” first appeared.  These poems remain among the most famous and best loved of the poets work.

The Title  The two words in the title stem from different traditions in the history of poetry, and have different characteristics.  By combining them in the title, Wordsworth and Coleridge indicated that they were involved in a fresh interpretation of old traditions.

 In ancient Greece, a lyric was a song to accompany music from a lyre (a stringed instrument).  Later the word was used for any short poem in which personal moods and emotions were expressed.

Ballad Definition:  a poem or song which usually tells a story in the popular language of the day, and has associations with traditional folk culture.

 1. It’s a collaboration of Wordsworth and Coleridge.  2. The Preface to the 2nd edition is a manifesto of the Romantic Movement.

 3. In the book, they explored new theories and innovated new technologies in poetry writing.  New: break away with traditional writing style

 4. They saw poetry as a healing energy. They regard poetry could purify the souls of individuals and society.

 5. Lyrical Ballads uses simple language to show strong sympathy with the poor, and it’s the fusion of natural ascription with expression of inward state of mind.

The Preface  added to the Lyrical Ballads (1798)  Importance: it’s a piece of literary criticism which shows Wordsworth’s theory of poetry writing.

 all good poetry is the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings (Preface to Lyrical Ballads)

I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud

1. 1. Type of Work  a lyric poem  focusing on the poet’s response to the beauty of nature

2. 2. Setting & Background Information  The poem recaptures a moment on April 15, 1802  when Wordsworth and his sister were walking near a lake at Grasmere, Cumbria County, England, and came upon a shore lined with daffodils.

3. 3. Figures of Speech Alliteration:  lonely as a cloud  high o'er vales and Hills  When all at once  Beside the Lake, beneath the trees

 Simile  Comparison (using as) of the speaker's solitariness to that of a cloud

Personification:  Comparison of the cloud to a lonely human.  Comparison of daffodils to a crowd of people  Comparison of daffodils to dancing humans

4. 4. Structure & Rhyme Scheme  4 stanzas of 6 lines each  In each stanza:  the first line rhymes with the third  the second with the fourth  The stanza ends with a rhyming couplet.

 Wordsworth unifies the content of the poem by focusing  the first 3 stanzas on the experience at the lake  the last stanza on the memory of that experience

5. 5. Meter: iambic tetrameter

She Dwelt among the Untrodden Ways  1.  1. Type of Work  2.  2. Composition & Publication  3.  3. Setting  4.  4. Rhyme & Meter  5.  5. Theme  6.  6. Figures of Speech

1. 1. Type of Work  a three-stanza poem with characteristics of  an elegy  in that the poem laments a person's death  a ballad  in that the poem tells a bit of a story

2. 2. Composition and Publication  Wordsworth wrote the poem while sojourning in Germany in 1798  She Dwelt" is one of five Wordsworth poems centering on a woman named Lucy, who died young.

 Whether she was a real person whom Wordsworth encountered while living in the village of Grasmere in Cumbria County, England, is unknown.

3. 3. Setting  northern England in Cumbria County’s Lake District

4. 4. Rhyme and Meter  The rhyme scheme: abab, cdcd, efef.  The final syllables of lines 5 and 7 (stone and one) constitute an eye rhyme rather than a sound rhyme  Each of the end rhymes is masculine.

 The verse format consists mainly of  iambic tetrameter, 抑扬格四音部  iambic trimeter, 抑扬格三音部

|||  A maid | whom there | were none | to praise ||  And ver | y few | to love |||  But She | is in | her grave, | and, oh, ||  The diff | er ence | to me!

5. 5. Theme  The noble and virtuous sometimes receive little or no attention during their journey through life.  They are blazing stars who soar through the heavens unnoticed or seldom seen, then burn out and die.

6. 6. Figures of Speech  Alliteration  Metaphor  Simile

Alliteration  definition:  Repetition of a consonant sound  e.g.:  She dwelt among the untrodden ways Beside the springs of Dove

Metaphor  definition:  Comparison of unlike things without using  like, as, or than  e.g.:  A violet by a mossy stone  comparison of Lucy to a violet

Simile  definition:  Comparison of unlike things using  like, as, or than  e.g.:  Fair as a star  comparison of Lucy to a star

the poem  She dwelt among the untrodden ways Beside the springs of Dove, A Maid whom there were none to praise And very few to love:

 A violet by a mossy stone Half hidden from the eye! —Fair as a star, when only one Is shining in the sky.

 She lived unknown, and few could know When Lucy ceased to be; But she is in her grave, and, oh, The difference to me!

Tintern Abbey  1798  the final poem in the volume  opens with a personal experience  explores themes such as nature, memory, and imagination.

Tintern abbey 1993

 combines his feelings as worship of nature, with his impression gathered during his second visit.  reveals his innermost thoughts and emotions with regard to the natural world

 The poem closes on a subdued but confident reassertion of nature’s healing power, even though mystical insight may be withdrawn from the poet.

Form  written in tightly-structured blank verse  comprises verse-paragraphs rather than stanzas  unrhymed and mostly in iambic pentameter

 it contains elements of  the ode  the dramatic monologue  the conversation poem

 a monologue  imaginatively spoken by a single speaker to himself, referencing the specific objects of its imaginary scene  occasionally addressing others  once the spirit of nature  occasionally the speaker’s sister

The language of the poem  striking for its simplicity and forthrightness.