William Wordsworth was a 19th century literary stalwart and the most influential pioneer of English romantic poetry.
He was born on 7th April, 1770 at Cockermouth, in Cumbria. He lost both his parents at an early age. He began to write poetry while he was at school. As a young man, Wordsworth developed a love of nature, a theme reflected in many of his poems. While studying at Cambridge University, Wordsworth spent summer holidays on a walking tour in Switzerland and France. He became an enthusiast for the ideals of the French Revolution.
In 1797, Wordsworth and his sister Dorothy moved from Dorset to Somerset, where he met and befriended Samuel Taylor Coleridge, another great poet of his generation. They collaborated on a collection of poems titled ‘Lyrical Ballads‘, which included many of Wordsworth’s poems along with Coleridge’s long poem, The Rime of the Ancient Mariner. Brought out in 1798, this collection of poems marked the beginning of the Romantic Movement in English poetry.
In 1799, Wordsworth and Dorothy settled at Dove Cottage in Grasmere in the Lake District. In 1802, Wordsworth married a childhood friend, Mary Hutchinson. It was during his stay in Grasmere that Wordsworth wrote his poem, I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud, in 1804. In 1813, Wordsworth moved from Grasmere to nearby Ambleside. In 1843, he became the poet laureate.
Wordsworth died on 23 April, 1850 and was buried in Grasmere churchyard.