Значение слова WORDSWORTH в Литературной энциклопедии

1) CHRISTOPHER (1774-1846).-Biographer, etc., was a younger brother of the poet, _ed._ at Camb., took orders, and became Chaplain to the House of Commons, and Master of Trinity Coll., Camb. 1820-41. He was also Vice-Chancellor of the Univ. 1820-21 and 1826-27. He _pub._ _Ecclesiastical Biography_ (1810), and _Who wrote Eikon Basilike?_ in which he argued for the authorship of Charles I. 2) WORDSWORTH, CHRISTOPHER (1807-1885).-_S._ of above, _ed._ at Camb., took orders and became a Canon of Westminster 1844, and Bishop of Lincoln 1868. He travelled in Greece, and discovered the site of Dodona. His writings include in theology a commentary on the Bible (1856-70), _Church History to A.D. 451_ (1881-83), and in other fields, _Athens and Attica_ (1836), and _Theocritus_ (1844).3)WORDSWORTH, DOROTHY (1771-1855).-Diarist, etc., was the only sister of the poet, and his lifelong and sympathetic companion, and endowed in no small degree with the same love of and insight into nature as is evidenced by her _Journals_. Many of her brother's poems were suggested by scenes and incidents recorded by her, of which that on Daffodils beginning "I wandered lonely as a cloud" is a notable example. 4)WORDSWORTH, WILLIAM (1770-1850).-Poet, _s._ of John W., attorney and agent to the 1st Lord Lonsdale, was _b._ at Cockermouth. His boyhood was full of adventure among the hills, and he says of himself that he showed "a stiff, moody, and violent temper." He lost his mother when he was 8, and his _f._ in 1783 when he was 13. The latter, prematurely cut off, left little for the support of his family of four sons and a _dau._, Dorothy (afterwards the worthy companion of her illustrious brother), except a claim for L5000 against Lord Lonsdale, which his lordship contested, and which was not settled until his death. With the help, however, of uncles, the family were well _ed._ and started in life. William received his earlier education at Penrith and Hawkshead in Lancashire; and in 1787 went to St. John's Coll., Camb., where he graduated B.A. in 1791. In the preceding year, 1790, he had taken a walking tour on the Continent, visiting France in the first flush of the Revolution with which, at that stage, he was, like many of the best younger minds of the time, in enthusiastic sympathy. So much was this the case that he nearly involved himself with the Girondists to an extent which might have cost him his life. His funds, however, gave out, and he returned to England shortly before his friends fell under the guillotine. His uncles were desirous that he should enter the Church, but to this he was unconquerably averse; and indeed his marked indisposition to adopt any regular employment led to their taking not unnatural offence. In 1793 his first publication-_Descriptive Sketches of a Pedestrian Tour in the Alps_, and _The Evening Walk_-appeared, but attracted little attention. The beginning of his friendship with Coleridge in 1795 tended to confirm him in his resolution to devote himself to poetry; and a legacy of L900 from a friend put it in his power to do so by making him for a time independent of other employment. He settled with his sister at Racedown, Dorsetshire, and shortly afterwards removed to Alfoxden, in the Quantock Hills, to be near Coleridge, who was then living at Nether Stowey in the same neighbourhood. One result of the intimacy thus established was the planning of a joint work, _Lyrical Ballads_, to which Coleridge contributed _The Ancient Mariner_, and W., among other pieces, _Tintern Abbey_. The first ed. of the work appeared in 1798. With the profits of this he went, accompanied by his sister and Coleridge, to Germany, where he lived chiefly at Goslar, and where he began the _Prelude_, a poem descriptive of the development of his own mind. After over a year's absence W. returned and settled with Dorothy at Grasmere. In 1800 the second ed. of _Lyrical Ballads_, containing W.'s contributions alone, with several additions, appeared. In the same year Lord Lonsdale _d._, and his successor settled the claims already referred to with interest, and the share of the brother and sister enabled them to live in the frugal and simple manner which suited them. Two years later W.'s circumstances enabled him to marry his cousin, Mary Hutchinson, to whom he had been long attached. In 1804 he made a tour in Scotland, and began his friendship with Scott. The year 1807 saw the publication of _Poems in Two Volumes_, which contains much of his best work, including the "Ode to Duty," "Intimations of Immortality," "Yarrow Unvisited," and the "Solitary Reaper." In 1813 he migrated to Rydal Mount, his home for the rest of his life; and in the same year he received, through the influence of Lord Lonsdale, the appointment of Distributor of Stamps for Westmoreland, with a salary of L400. The next year he made another Scottish tour, when he wrote _Yarrow Visited_, and he also _pub._ _The Excursion_, "being a portion of _The Recluse_, a Poem." W. had now come to his own, and was regarded by the great majority of the lovers of poetry as, notwithstanding certain limitations and flaws, a truly great and original poet. The rest of his life has few events beyond the publication of his remaining works (which, however, did not materially advance his fame), and tokens of the growing honour in which he was held. _The White Doe of Rylstone_ appeared in 1815, in which year also he made a collection of his poems; _Peter Bell_ and _The Waggoner_ in 1819; _The River Duddon_ and _Memorials of a Tour on the Continent_ in 1820; _Ecclesiastical Sonnets_ 1822; and _Yarrow Revisited_ in 1835. In 1831 he paid his last visit to Scott; in 1838 he received the degree of D.C.L. from Durham, and in 1839 the same from Oxf. Three years later he resigned his office of Distributor of Stamps in favour of his _s._, and received a civil list pension of L300. The following year, 1843, he succeeded Southey as Poet Laureate. His long, tranquil, and fruitful life ended in 1850. He lies buried in the churchyard of Grasmere. After his death the _Prelude_, finished in 1805, was _pub._ It had been kept back because the great projected poem of which it was to have been the preface, and of which _The Excursion_ is a part, was never completed. The work of W. is singularly unequal. When at his best, as in the "Intimations of Immortality," "Laodamia," some passages in _The Excursion_, and some of his short pieces, and especially his sonnets, he rises to heights of noble inspiration and splendour of language rarely equalled by any of our poets. But it required his poetic fire to be at fusing point to enable him to burst through his natural tendency to prolixity and even dulness. His extraordinary lack of humour and the, perhaps consequent, imperfect power of self-criticism by which it was accompanied, together with the theory of poetic theme and diction with which he hampered himself, led him into a frequent choice of trivial subjects and childish language which excited not unjust ridicule, and long delayed the general recognition of his genius. He has a marvellous felicity of phrase, an unrivalled power of describing natural appearances and effects, and the most ennobling views of life and duty. But his great distinguishing characteristic is his sense of the mystic relations between man and nature. His influence on contemporary and succeeding thought and literature has been profound and lasting. It should be added that W., like Milton, with whom he had many points in common, was the master of a noble and expressive prose style. SUMMARY.-_B._ 1770, _ed._ at Camb., sympathiser with French Revolution in earlier stages, first publication _Tour in the Alps_ and _Evening Walk_ 1793, became acquainted with Coleridge 1795, _pub._ with him _Lyrical Ballads_ 1798, visits Germany and begins _Prelude_, returns to England and settles at Grasmere, _pub._ second ed. of _Lyrical Ballads_, entirely his own, 1800, _m._ Mary Hutchinson 1802, visits Scotland 1804 and becomes acquainted with Scott, _pub._ _Poems in Two Volumes_ 1807, goes to Rydal Mount 1813, appointed Distributor of Stamps, revisits Scotland, writes _Yarrow Visited_ and _pub._ _The Excursion_ 1814, _White Doe_ and _coll._ works 1815, _Waggoner_, _Ecclesiastical Sonnets_, etc., 1819-35, pensioned 1842, Poet Laureate 1843, _d._ 1850. There are numerous good ed. of the poems, including his own by Moxon (1836, 1845, and 1850), and those by Knight (1882-86), Morley (1888), Dowden (1893), Smith (1908). Another by Knight in 16 vols. includes the prose writings and the _Journal_ by Dorothy (1896-97). _Lives_ by Christopher Wordsworth (1857), Myers (1880), and others. See also criticism by W. Raleign (1903).