"The Sparrows Nest" is a

lyric poem Modern lyric poetry is a formal type of poetry which expresses personal emotions or feelings, typically spoken in the first person. The term for both modern lyric poetry and modern song lyrics derives from a form of Ancient Greek literature, th ...

written by

William Wordsworth William Wordsworth (7 April 177023 April 1850) was an English Romantic poetry, Romantic poet who, with Samuel Taylor Coleridge, helped to launch the Romanticism, Romantic Age in English literature with their joint publication ''Lyrical Balla ...

at Town End, Grasmere, in 1801. It was first published in the collection '' Poems in Two Volumes'' in 1807. The poem is a moving tribute to Wordsworth's sister

Dorothy Dorothy may refer to: *Dorothy (given name), a list of people with that name. Arts and entertainment Film and television * ''Dorothy'' (TV series), 1979 American TV series * Dorothy Mills, a 2008 French movie, sometimes titled simply ''Dorot ...

, recalling their early childhood together in

Cockermouth Cockermouth is a market town and civil parish in the Cumberland unitary authority area of Cumbria, England. The name refers to the town's position by the confluence of the River Cocker into the River Derwent. At the 2021 census, the built u ...

before they were separated following their mother's death in 1778 when he was barely eight years old.

History

The 'Emmeline' of the poem is his sister Dorothy. The poem itself was placed in a section of ''Poems in Two Volumes'' entitled ''Moods of my Mind'', in which he grouped together his most deeply felt lyrics. Others included " To a Butterfly", a childhood recollection of chasing butterflies with Dorothy, and "

I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud "I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud" (also sometimes called "Daffodils") is a lyric poem by William Wordsworth. It is one of his most popular, and was inspired by an encounter on 15 April 1802 during a walk with his younger sister Dorothy, when they ...

", closely based on an entry in Dorothy's journal following a walk together and an example of the line "She gave me eyes, she gave me ears" in the poem.Moorman (1965) pp. 96–7

Sources

Bibliography

* Davies, Hunter. ''William Wordsworth'', Weidenfeld and Nicolson 1980 * Gill, Stephen. ''William Wordsworth: A Life'', Oxford University Press 1989 * Gill, Stephen. "William Wordsworth: The Major Works including ''The Prelude'', Oxford University Press 1984 * Moorman, Mary. ''William Wordsworth, A Biography: The Early Years, 1770–1803 v. 1'', Oxford University Press 1957 * Moorman, Mary. ''William Wordsworth: A Biography: The Later Years, 1803–50 v. 2'', Oxford University Press 1965 * Wordsworth, Dorothy (ed. Pamela Woof). ''The Grasmere and Alfoxden Journals.'', Oxford University Press 2002 {{DEFAULTSORT:Sparrows Nest Poetry by William Wordsworth 1801 poems