If William Wordsworth were alive today, he'd likely be the type to leave a trail of triggered feelings and emotional snowflakes in his wake. This was a man who, born in 1770 in Cockermouth, Cumbria, chose to glorify the simplicity and beauty of the rural English landscape through the tumultuous times of the Industrial Revolution—a time when urban sprawl gripped the nation and soulless factories displaced the pastoral world he cherished. He didn't just pen words; he championed values eroding in today's society.
Wordsworth was an unapologetic romantic, and while some may have you believe that romance is all fairy lights and emotional angst, Wordsworth knew its true essence. It was—and still is—the antidote to chaos, a rallying cry for finding beauty in life’s simplicities. His works like 'Lines Written in Early Spring' and 'I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud' celebrate a love for nature that wasn't a mere Instagram-ready backdrop, but a symbol of harmony and divinity far removed from the dirty politics and heavy industrialization of his era.
Dismissed by some as a recluse who put nature and tradition above the so-called 'progress' of urbanization, Wordsworth's most significant accomplishment, 'Lyrical Ballads,' co-authored with Samuel Taylor Coleridge, was no less than revolutionary for English literature in 1798. Here was a collection that smashed norms and brought poetry to the common man, giving voice to the everyday experiences and emotions repressed by the shackles of Enlightenment rationalism. That's right—Wordsworth had a knack for taking a stand that would make modern intellectual elites squirm.
Wordsworth's life was marked by pivotal moments that drove his philosophy and work. The tragedies that beset him, like the death of his parents during his youth, no doubt seasoned his perspective with a somber realism. His time in France during the Revolution initially kindled his revolutionary zeal. However, the ensuing Reign of Terror—how do you spell chaos?—left him disillusioned, driving him back to the calibration of stability and order found in English values. His turning conservative was a tale for the ages.
There’s an inconvenient truth about Wordsworth that doesn’t sit well with those rewriting history to fit narrative trends—it’s his marriage to conservative values. He saw a natural order in the world and saw its central place in the human experience. If only today's talking heads would heed his lessons on discipline and timeless moral standards.
Wordsworth's crowning achievement was perhaps 'The Prelude,' a poetic autobiography written in blank verse. It functioned not only as an artistic expression but as a clarion call legislating the enduring impact of early formative experiences on one’s creativity and ethical mindset. His beliefs remind us that not all change is progress; sometimes, staying rooted in tradition is the true revolutionary act.
It’s tempting for modern readers to fall into the trap of seeing Wordsworth merely as another romantic whispering through the ages about daffodils and mountains. Instead, he offered an alien concept in today’s quick-fix, fast-track society: contemplation. While everyone rushes through life, Wordsworth advocated for the sublime, the profound, that which cannot be crammed into 240 characters or turned into a viral moment.
So why should Wordsworth matter today? Because he wraps inconvenient truths in sublime verses that emphasize permanence and morality. He was the poetic voice for the heartwarming notion that some things—the towering integrity of nature, the dignity of human emotion—are worth preserving intact against the onslaught of modernity.
Would he be perplexed by today’s wayward drift away from foundational principles? You bet. Wordsworth's works are lessons not just in how to write poetry, but in how to live a life mindful of higher things. It’s time the wider world reacquainted itself with this remarkable poet and patriot, realizing that maybe, just maybe, he was right after all.