Wordsworth: The Prelude

This textbook series is ambitious in scope. It provides concise and lucid introductions to major works of world literature from classical antiquity to the twentieth century. Each book is devoted to a single work and provides a close reading of that text, as well as a full account of its historical, cultural, and intellectual background, a discussion of its influence, and a guide to further reading.

An introduction to Wordsworth's greatest poem, its creation, historical context, structure and reception history. Stephen Gill places The Prelude in the context of Wordsworth's life, and discusses the various states in which it survives. He gives an account of each book of the 1805 poem, and provides detailed discussion of its blank verse and of the religious viewpoint of the whole. The final chapter is a survey of the work's scholarly and critical reception.