Wordsworth and His World

William Wordsworth, born in 1770, was the eldest and possibly the greatest member of the English Romantic movement. The English countryside was his chief inspiration in so much of his work he combined a passionate apprehension of nature with a belief that nature is the source of man s innate goodness. He was determined to express his ideals in terms of the lives of ordinary people, and using the plainest language, which caused a revolution in English poetic style though his verse rises to heights of splendour, which few other English poets can match. Halliday s biography turns a mighty name into a human being.

Literary scholar and Cornwall historian, Frank Ernest Halliday, was born in Yorkshire. He taught English and History at Cheltenham College before moving to St Ives, in Cornwall, where he settled permanently and devoted his time to writing books. His vigorous, uncluttered and well informed work includes numerous volumes on Shakespeare, as well as studies of Thomas Hardy, Geoffrey Chaucer, Robert Browning, Doctor Johnson and William Wordsworth.