William Wordsworth – Page 7 – Interesting Literature

A Short Analysis of William Wordsworth’s ‘A slumber did my spirit seal’

By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University)

‘A slumber did my spirit seal’, as this wonderful little poem by William Wordsworth (1770-1850) is known (its first line providing its unofficial title), is one of Wordsworth’s best-known short poems. It’s a lyric, an elegy, and a nature poem all in one. Here is the poem, along with some words of analysis. (We’ve offered more tips for the close reading of poetry here.)

A slumber did my spirit seal;
I had no human fears:
She seemed a thing that could not feel
The touch of earthly years.

No motion has she now, no force;
She neither hears nor sees;
Rolled round in earth’s diurnal course,
With rocks, and stones, and trees.

A Short Analysis of William Wordsworth’s ‘Nuns Fret Not at Their Convent’s Narrow Room’

By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University)

‘Nuns Fret Not at Their Convent’s Narrow Room’ is the title often given to the sonnet by William Wordsworth (1770-1850) which has this as its opening line. The poem is an argument about the usefulness of the sonnet as a means of poetic expression, and a rejection of the idea that the sonnet’s formal restrictions place undesirable limitations upon what the poet can do with the sonnet form. Here is ‘Nuns Fret Not’ (as we will refer to it) along with some notes towards an analysis of it.

Nuns fret not at their Convent’s narrow room;
And Hermits are contented with their Cells;
And Students with their pensive Citadels;
Maids at the Wheel, the Weaver at his Loom,
Sit blithe and happy; Bees that soar for bloom,
High as the highest Peak of Furness-Fells,
Will murmur by the hour in Foxglove bells:

A Short Analysis of William Wordsworth’s ‘London, 1802’

By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University)

‘Milton! thou shouldst be living at this hour’. With this opening line, William Wordsworth (1770-1850) begins one of his most famous sonnets. Although he’s best-known in the popular consciousness as the poet who praised daffodils and wandered lonely as a cloud, ‘London, 1802’ shows a Wordsworth who is very critical of England and its people, and looking back nostalgically to a happier time in English (literary) history. Here is ‘London, 1802’ with some notes towards an analysis of the poem.

Milton! thou shouldst be living at this hour:
England hath need of thee: she is a fen
Of stagnant waters: altar, sword, and pen,
Fireside, the heroic wealth of hall and bower,
Have forfeited their ancient English dower
Of inward happiness. We are selfish men;
O raise us up, return to us again,
And give us manners, virtue, freedom, power!

A Short Analysis of Wordsworth’s ‘Composed Upon Westminster Bridge’

A summary of a classic William Wordsworth poem about London, analysed by Dr Oliver Tearle

William Wordsworth’s sonnet ‘Composed Upon Westminster Bridge, September 3, 1802’ is one of his most celebrated poems. Here is the poem, and a few words by way of analysis:

Interesting Facts about William Wordsworth

The life of William Wordsworth told through some intriguing biographical facts

William Wordsworth was born on 7 April 1770 in Cockermouth in the Lake District. He went to the same school, the Cockermouth Free School, as Fletcher Christian, the man who would lead the mutiny on the Bounty in 1789. Christian was six years senior to Wordsworth.

Famously, Wordsworth had anosmia. As the poet’s nephew wrote in his Memoirs of William Wordsworth, ‘With regard to fragrance, Mr. Wordsworth spoke from the testimony of others: he himself had no sense of smell. The single instance of his enjoying such a perception, which is recorded of him in Southey’s life, was, in fact, imaginary. The incident occurred at Racedown, when he was walking with Miss H––, who coming suddenly upon a parterre of sweet flowers, expressed her pleasure at their fragrance, – a pleasure which he caught from her lips, and then fancied to be his own.’