Here, newly edited from manuscripts held by The Wordsworth Trust, is an entirely new edition of The Prelude, the most resonant poem of the entire Romantic Era. Over the last 150 years this poetic autobiography has emerged as one of the most admired works in all of English literature and certainly as the pre-eminent long poem expressing a personal romantic spirit. It tells the story of the growth of imagination and love in the mind of one of the finest poets of the last 250 years. It recounts Wordsworth's childhood and youth, his days at Cambridge, residence in London, walking tour of the Alps, his witnessing of the French Revolution, crisis and turmoil over the apparent failure of its revolutionary ideals, and the ultimate restoration of imaginative power. The poem is spiritual and inward, yet anchored in particulars of landscape and events of history. Marginal glosses, a unique feature of this edition, guide the reader through the design and flow of the poem. Succinct notes elucidate references and language needed for a full understanding. Also provided are a fresh critical Introduction, detailed and helpful Chronology, Bibliography, and specially commissioned color Maps. Wordsworth addressed his poem to Samuel Taylor Coleridge and read it aloud to him. Coleridge's poetic response, To William Wordsworth, is also included.
This is the first fully illustrated edition of The Prelude. More than 130 paintings, drawings, and works of art, all in full colour, illustrate its events, people, and settings in the English Lake District, Cambridge, London, Paris, the Alps, and Wales. There are works by Turner, Gainsborough, Constable, Blake, Canaletto, David, Millet, and many others. Almost all were created at or near the time that Wordsworth composed the poem, and we know he even saw a number of them personally.
