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''Poems, in Two Volumes'' is a collection of poetry by English
Romantic poet
William Wordsworth
William Wordsworth (7 April 177023 April 1850) was an English Romantic poet who, with Samuel Taylor Coleridge, helped to launch the Romantic Age in English literature with their joint publication '' Lyrical Ballads'' (1798).
Wordsworth's ' ...
, published in 1807.
It contains many notable poems, including:
* "
Resolution and Independence
"Resolution and Independence" is a lyric poem by the English Romantic poet William Wordsworth, composed in 1802 and published in 1807 in ''Poems in Two Volumes''. The poem contains twenty stanzas written in modified rhyme royal, and describes Word ...
"
* "
I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud
"I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud" (also commonly known as "Daffodils") is a lyric poem by William Wordsworth. It is one of his most popular, and was inspired by a forest encounter on 15 April 1802 between he, his younger sister Dorothy and a "lo ...
" (sometimes anthologized as "The Daffodils")
* "
My Heart Leaps Up
"My Heart Leaps Up", also known as "The Rainbow", is a poem by the British Romantic poet William Wordsworth. Noted for its simple structure and language, it describes joy felt at viewing a rainbow.
Writing the poem
Wordsworth wrote "My Heart Le ...
"
* "
Ode: Intimations of Immortality"
* "
Ode to Duty"
* "
The Solitary Reaper
"The Solitary Reaper" is a lyric poem by English Romantic poet William Wordsworth, and one of his best-known works. The poem was inspired by him and his sister Dorothy's stay at the village of Strathyre in the parish of Balquhidder in Scotla ...
"
* "
Elegiac Stanzas"
* "
Composed upon Westminster Bridge, September 3, 1802
"Composed upon Westminster Bridge, September 3, 1802" is a Petrarchan sonnet by William Wordsworth describing London and the River Thames, viewed from Westminster Bridge in the early morning. It was first published in the collection '' Poe ...
"
* "
London, 1802
"London, 1802" is a poem by the English Romantic poet William Wordsworth. In the poem Wordsworth castigates the English people as stagnant and selfish, and eulogises seventeenth-century poet John Milton.
Composed in 1802, "London, 1802" was p ...
"
* "
The World Is Too Much with Us"
Contents
The contents of Volume I and Volume II:
Volume I
*To the Daisy
*Louisa
*Fidelity
*She was a Phantom of delight
*The Redbreast and the Butterfly
*The Sailor's Mother
*To the Small Celandine
*To the same Flower
*Character of the Happy Warrior
*The Horn of Egremont Castle
*The Affliction of Margaret —— of ——
*The Kitten and the falling Leaves
*The Seven Sisters, or the Solitude of Binnorie
*To H.C., six Years old
*Among all lovely things my Love had been
*I travell'd among unknown Men
*Ode to Duty
POEMS, COMPOSED DURING A TOUR, CHIEFLY ON FOOT.
*1. Beggars
*2. To a Sky-Lark
*3. With how sad Steps, O Moon, thou climb'st the Sky
*4. Alice Fell
*5. Resolution and Independence
SONNETS
*Prefatory Sonnet
PART THE FIRST—MISCELLANEOUS SONNETS.
*1.
*2.
*3. Composed after a Journey across the Hamilton Hills, Yorkshire
*4.
*5. To Sleep
*6. To Sleep
*7. To Sleep
*8.
*9. To the River Duddon
*10. From the Italian of Michael Angelo
*11. From the same
*12. From the same. To the Supreme Being
*13. Written in very early Youth
*14. Composed upon Westminster Bridge, Sept. 3, 1803
*15.
*16.
*17. To ——
*18.
*19.
*20. To the Memory of Raisley Calvert
PART THE SECOND—SONNETS DEDICATED TO LIBERTY.
CONTENTS.
*1. Composed by the Sea-side, near Calais, August, 1802
*2. Is it a Reed
*3. To a Friend, composed near Calais, on the Road leading to Ardres, August 7, 1802
*4.
*5.
*6. On the Extinction of the Venetian Republic
*7. The King of Sweden
*8. To Toussaint L'Ouverture
*9.
*10. Composed in the Valley near Dover, on the Day of Landing
*11.
*12. Thought of a Briton on the Subjugation of Switzerland
*13. Written in London, September, 1802
*14.
*15.
*16.
*17.
*18.
*19.
*20.
*21.
*22.
*23. To the Men of Kent. October, 1803
*24.
*25. Anticipation. October, 1803
*26.
Volume II
POEMS WRITTEN DURING A TOUR IN SCOTLAND.
*1. Rob Roy's Grave
*2. The solitary Reaper
*3. Stepping Westward
*4. Glen-Almain, or the Narrow Glen
*5. The Matron of Jedborough and her Husband
*6. To a Highland Girl
*7. Sonnet
*8. Address to the Sons of Burns after visiting their Father's Grave, Aug. 14th, 1803
*9. Yarrow unvisited
MOODS OF MY OWN MIND.
*1. To a Butterfly
*2.
*3.
*4.
*5. Written in March while resting on the Bridge at the Foot of Brother's Water
*6. The small Celandine
*7.
*8.
*9. The Sparrow's Nest
*10. Gipsies
*11. To the Cuckoo
*12. To a Butterfly
*13.
THE BLIND HIGHLAND BOY.
*The Blind Highland Boy
*The Green Linnet
*To a Young Lady, who had been reproached for taking long Walks in the Country
*By their floating Mill, &c
*Star-gazers
*Power of Music
*To the Daisy
*To the same Flower
*Incident, characteristic of a favourite Dog,
*which belonged to a Friend of the Author
*Tribute to the Memory of the same Dog
*Sonnet
*Sonnet
*Sonnet
*Sonnet to Thomas Clarkson
*Once in a lonely Hamlet, &c
*Foresight, or the Charge of a Child to his younger Companion
*A Complaint
*I am not One, &c
*Yes! full surely 'twas the Echo, &c
*To the Spade of a Friend
*Song, at the Feast of Brougham Castle
*Lines, composed at Grasmere
*Elegiac Stanzas
*Ode
*Notes
Critical reception
''Poems in Two Volumes'' has been considered to be the peak of Wordsworth's power, and of his popularity. However, it was poorly reviewed by Wordsworth's contemporaries, including
Lord Byron
George Gordon Byron, 6th Baron Byron (22 January 1788 – 19 April 1824), known simply as Lord Byron, was an English romantic poet and peer. He was one of the leading figures of the Romantic movement, and has been regarded as among the ...
, whom Wordsworth would come to despise. Byron said of the volume, in one of its first reviews, "Mr. W
rdsworthceases to please, ... clothing
is ideas
In linguistics, a copula (plural: copulas or copulae; list of glossing abbreviations, abbreviated ) is a word or phrase that links the subject (grammar), subject of a sentence (linguistics), sentence to a subject complement, such as the word '' ...
in language not simple, but puerile".
Wordsworth himself wrote ahead to soften the thoughts of ''
The Critical Review
''The Critical Review'' was a British publication appearing from 1756 to 1817. It was first edited by Tobias Smollett, from 1756 to 1763. Contributors included Samuel Johnson, David Hume, John Hunter, and Oliver Goldsmith.
Early years
The ...
'', hoping his friend Wrangham would push a softer approach. He succeeded in preventing a known enemy from writing the review, but it didn't help; as Wordsworth himself said, it was a case of "Out of the frying pan, into the fire". Of any positives within ''Poems in Two Volumes'', perceived masculinity in "The Happy Warrior" was one. "I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud" couldn't have been further from it. Wordsworth took the reviews stoically.
References
{{William Wordsworth
Works by William Wordsworth