Diction and Subject Matter

The Poetry of William Wordsworth

In this course, Professor Tom Mole (University of Edinburgh) explores the poetry of the great Romantic poet, William Wordsworth. In the first module, we look at Wordsworth's Preface to the Lyrical Ballads, in which he outlines his views on the proper language and subject matter of poetry, as well as the role of the poet himself. After that, in the second module, we turn to his views on the composition of poetry, focusing in particular on his poems 'I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud' and 'Tintern Abbey'. In the third module, we explore Wordsworth's presentation of the relationship between the poet and his society in his poem 'Resolution and Independence' before moving on in the fourth module to consider the theme of nature in Wordsworth's poetry. In the fifth and final module, we think about the concept of childhood, looking in particular at 'Ode: Intimations of Immortality'.

Diction and Subject Matter

In this module, we look at the Preface to the Lyrical Ballads to explore Wordsworth's views of the language and subject matter of poetry ('the real language of men in a state of vivid sensation'), as well as of the figure of the poet himself ('a man speaking to men').