CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE OF THE LIFE OF WILLIAM WORDSWORTH. THE following Table is intended to show (1) the chief events of the poet's life, (2) the dates of the publication of his principal works, and (3) his chronological relations to certain of his predecessors and contemporaries. About this year Richard Wordsworth migrates from Yorkshire to Westmoreland, is made Superintendent of the Lowther estates, marries, and purchases the property of Sockbridge, in the parish of Barton, near Penrith. Richard W. Receiver-General of the County of Westmoreland. [George Crabbe born.] [Wm. Lisle Bowles born. Joanna Baillie born.] [Samuel Rogers born.] [The Traveller (O. Goldsmith).] [Bp. Percy's Reliques of Ancient English Poetry.] John Wordsworth, attorney, of Cockermouth, chief law-agent to Sir Jas. (1) Richard W. (May 19th; died May 19th, 1816). (2) WILLIAM WORDSWORTH, BORN APRIL 7th. [Mary Hutchinson I (3) Dorothy W. (Dec. 25th; died Jan. 25th, 1855). [Gray died. Scott born. 2 4 (4) John W. (Dec. 4th; drowned Feb. 5th, 1805. [S. T. Coleridge born.] [Chas. Lamb born. W. Savage Landor born.] A.D. ET. 1777 1778 1779 7 During 1776-7 W. W. and Mary H. attend Anne Birkett's infant school : Penrith. [H. Hallam born. Thos. Campbell born.] 8 Mother dies. W. lodges at Anne Tyson's cottage and attends Hawkshea Grammar-school. [Wm. Hazlitt born.] 1781 II 1782 1783 33 14 1784 1786 16 1787 17 1788 [Thos. Moore born.] [Ebenezer Elliott born. The Library (Crabbe). Triumphs of Tempe (Hayley).] [Poems (Wm. Cowper). Edwin and Elfrida (Helen M. Williams).] John W. (father) dies, leaving his five children in the guardianship their uncles, Richard Wordsworth and Christ. Crackanthorp. [T Village (Crabbe).] [Dr. Johnson died. Leigh Hunt born. Elegiac Sonnets (Charlott Smith).] "And has the sun his flaming chariot driven," &c. written (W.'s earlies extant verses). [De Quincey born. Thos. Love Peacock born The Newspaper (Crabbe). The Task (Cowper).] "Dear Native Regions," &c.; "Calm is all Nature," &c. written. [Poem (Robt. Burns: Kilmarnock Ed.).] Enters at S. John's College, Cambridge. Studies Italian under Agostin Isola. Evening Walk begun. [B. W. Proctor born.] 18 Long Vacation at Hawkshead. First visit to London (autumn). [Byro born. Lewesdon Hill (Wm. Crowe).] 1789 19 1790 20 1791 223 21 Long Vac. with Dorothy W. and Mary H. at Penrith. Evening Wal Walking tour in Long Vac. with Robt. Jones through France and B.A. Camb. (Jan.). Forncett Rectory, Norfolk; London; Plas-yn-llan Orleans; Blois (friendship with Michel Beaupuy: Nature now yield: Evening Walk publ. (Feb.); Descriptive Sketches publ. London; Isle o Wight, with Wm. Calvert (July); walking tour by SalisburyStonehenge-Bath-Bristol-Tintern Abbey-Goodrich Castle-t Plas-yn-llan. Wanderings through N. Wales (autumn). Shocked by England's declaration of war against France (Feb.). Indite a "Letter to the Bishop of Llandaff, &c. By a Republican." [Felici: Hemans born. Tam o Shanter, &c. (Burns).]. At Armathwaite near Keswick; Halifax; at Windybrow under Skidday with Wm. Calvert; Whitehaven; wanderings through Lancashir 1 It was during either this vacation or that of 1794, that W. spent four weeks with his cousi Mrs. Barker in Rampside, a village of Low Furness, Lancashire, right opposite Peel Castle, which lies between Walney Isle and the mainland. Cf. the Elegiao Stanzas suggested by a Picture 4 Peel Castle. 12 AD ET. and the Lake Country. Proposes to start "The Philanthropist, a monthly Miscellany;" searches in vain for congenial employment; anxious and perplexed. Guilt and Sorrow finished. [Fall of Robespierre (S. T. C.). Songs of Experience (Blake). Robespierre executed (July 28th): see Prelude X., 11. 570-603.] 25 At Penrith with Raisley Calvert, who dies, leaving W. £900 (Spring). Halifax (?); London; settles with Dorothy W. at Racedown, Dorset (Oct.). Meets S. T. C. at the house of Mr. Pinney, Bristol (prob. late in Sept.). The Borderers begun. Margaret; or, The Ruined Cottage begun. [Keats born. Carlyle born.] 8 27 Racedown. The Borderers finished. [Burns died. Hartley Coleridge born. Poems, 1st issue (S. T. C.). Joan of Arc (Southey).] Racedown. Intimacy with S. T. C. leads to outburst of poetic activity. W. and sister visit S. T. C. at Nether Stowey cottage (July 2—16), whence they move to Alfoxden, some three miles distant. Charles Lamb visits S. T. C. (July 9-16). Lyrical Ballads planned with S.T.C. Margaret finished (aft. merged in Excursion, Bk. I.). W. in London (Dec.). [Poems (S.T.C.; Lamb and Lloyd). Poems (Southey).] Alfoxden (Jan.-June). 700 lines of "The Recluse" written; also many Lyrical Ballads, and Peter Bell. [Wm. Hazlitt visits Nether Stowey and Alfoxden (May ?).] Bristol (July); London (Aug. 27th). Lyrical Ballads publ. (Sept.). Viâ Yarmouth to Hamburg with Dorothy W. and S. T. C. (Sept. 16th); arrives at Goslar (Oct. 6th)1. [Epistle to a Friend (Rogers). Plays on the Passions, Vol. I. (Joanna Baillie: Vol. II., 1802; Vol. III., 1812). Gebir (W. S. Landor).] 1799 29 Goslar; Göttingen; whence (April 21st) via Hamburg to Yarmouth; 1798 28 1800 30 1301 with Thos. and Mary Hutchinson at Sockburn-on-Tees (May 1st?). The Prelude begun in Germany, where W.'s. poetic activity persists in full force. Walking tour through Lake Country with S. T. C., John W., and Cottle, the Bristol publisher of the L. B. (Oct.). Settles, with Dorothy W., in Dove Cottage, Townend, Grasmere (prob. Friday, Dec. 20th). [T. Hood born. Pleasures of Hope (Campbell).] Dove Cottage. John W. sojourns (Jan.-Sept. 29th). S. T. C. visits Grasmere (Apr., May), and, with wife and Hartley, sojourns at Dove Cottage (June 29th July 24th). Mary H. visits Dove Cottage twice in 1800. S. T. C. settles at Greta Hall, Keswick (Aug.). Frequent intercourse between W. and S. T. C. The Recluse, Bk. I., written (publ. 1888); also many Pastorals and other poems. Bks. I. and II. of The Prelude were probably finished before the close of 1800. The poem was then laid aside until the spring of 1804. W.'s poetic activity fully maintained in 1800. [Cowper died. Macaulay born.] Unpro Dove Cottage. Lyrical Ballads, 2nd ed., two vols. pub. (Jan.). During this six months' sojourn abroad, W.'s republican ardour evanesced, and with it his resentment towards England as the foe of France. "We are right glad to find ourselves in England," be writes on his return to Cottle, "for we have learned to know its value." Cf. the lines beginLing: "I travelled among unknown men." A.D. ET. 1802 32 1803 33 1804 34 1805 35 Dove Cottage. Second period of productive energy (Dec. 1801-Dec. 1803 Dove Cottage. The Prelude continued, Bks. III.-VII. (Feb.-Apr.) Bks. VIII. XI. (Oct.-Dec.). Dora W. born (Aug. 16th). S. T. C starts for Malta, Apr. 2nd. [Triumphs of Music (Hayley).] Dove Cottage. The Prelude finished, Bks. XII.-XIV. (Apr., May). Feb 1804-May 1805 may be regarded as W.'s third period of productiv activity. John W. (brother) drowned in the wreck of the Abergavenny (Feb. 5th). W. ascends Helvellyn along with Walter Scott and Humphrey Davy (Oct.). The Waggoner written. Lyrical Ballads 4th. ed. [Madoc (Southey). Lay of the Last Minstrel (Scott).] 1806 36 Dove Cottage. Thomas W. born (June 16th). S. T. C. returns to England (Aug.). W. moves into the farm-house at Coleorton (lent by Si G. Beaumont) in October. S. T. C. at Coleorton (Dec. 1806-Feb 1807). Fourth period of poetic productiveness (Nov. 1806-Feb 1808). [Simonidea (Landor). Odes and Epistles (T. Moore).] Coleorton farm-house. Poems in Two Volumes publ. (prob. early in May) W. visits London (April), returning to Coleorton with W. Scott Home to Grasmere (Aug.). De Quincey calls at Dove Cottage (Oct.) Poems in Two Volumes savagely attacked in Edinburgh Review W. visits John H. (wife's brother) at Stockton-on-Tees, where par of The White Doe of Rylstone is written (Dec.). [Parish Register (Crabbe). Hours of Idleness (Byron).] 1807 37 1808 38 Dove Cottage. The White Doe (first draft) finished (Feb.). Visit to London (March). Moves from Dove Cottage into Allan Bank (June). Catherine W. born (Sept. 6th). S. T. C. and De Quincey domesticated at Allan Bank (Sept.). [Marmion (Scott). Lore Houghton born.] Allan Bank. The Excursion continued and completed during this and the four following years. Tract on the Convention of Cintra (written Nov., Dec., 1808) publ. (end of May). The Friend publ. by S. T. C (No. 1 on June 1st) at Penrith. De Quincey settles at Dove Cottage (Nov.). Reply to the Letter of Mathetes (in The Friend publ. (Dec.). [English Bards and Scotch Reviewers (Byron). Gertrude of Wyoming (Campbell). A. Tennyson, Elizabeth Barrett, W. E. Gladstone, Chas. Darwin born.] Allan Bank. Essay on Epitaphs (in The Friend) publ. (Feb). Description of the Scenery of the English Lakes, publ. as Introd. to Wilkinsoni Select Views (Apr.). William W. born (May 12th). S. T. C. quit |