Dorothy Wordsworth
Born	December 25, 1771(1771-12-25) Cumberland, England, Kingdom of Great Britain
Died	January 25, 1855 (aged 83)
Occupation	writer

Dorothy Mae Ann Wordsworth (December 25, 1771 – January 25, 1855) was an English poet and diarist. Image File history File links Dorothy-wordsworth. ... is the 359th day of the year (360th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1771 was a common year starting on Tuesday (see link for calendar). ... Cumberland is one of the 39 traditional counties of England. ... For other uses, see England (disambiguation). ... For an explanation of terms such as Scotland, Wales, England, (Great) Britain and United Kingdom, see British Isles (terminology). ... is the 25th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1855 (MDCCCLV) was a common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian Calendar (or a common year starting on Saturday of the 12-day slower Julian calendar). ... is the 359th day of the year (360th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1771 was a common year starting on Tuesday (see link for calendar). ... is the 25th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1855 (MDCCCLV) was a common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian Calendar (or a common year starting on Saturday of the 12-day slower Julian calendar). ... This article is about the English as an ethnic group and nation. ...

Biography

She was born in Cockermouth, Cumberland, the sister of the poet William Wordsworth. Despite the early death of their mother, Dorothy, William and their three siblings had a happy childhood. In 1783 though, their father died and the children were parcelled off to various relatives. Dorothy was sent alone to live with two aunts in Halifax, West Yorkshire. After she was able to reunite with William in adulthood, they became inseparable companions. Wordsworth wrote of her in his famous Tintern Abbey poem: This article does not cite any references or sources. ... Cumberland is one of the 39 traditional counties of England. ... William Wordsworth (April 7, 1770 – April 23, 1850) was a major English romantic poet who, with Samuel Taylor Coleridge, helped launch the Romantic Age in English literature with their 1798 joint publication, Lyrical Ballads. ... 1783 was a common year starting on Wednesday (see link for calendar). ... Tintern Abbey, 1993 Tintern Abbey, interior, 2004 Tintern Abbey was founded by Walter de Clare, Lord of Chepstow, on May 9, 1131. ...

Of this fair river; thou my dearest Friend,

My dear, dear Friend; and in thy voice I catch

The language of my former heart, and read

My former pleasures in the shooting lights

Of they wild eyes [...]

My dear, dear Sister!

Dorothy Wordsworth was a diarist and poet but had little interest in becoming a famous writer like her brother. "I should detest the idea of setting myself up as an author," she once wrote. "Give Wm. the Pleasure of it." She almost published her travel account with William to Scotland in 1803 Recollections of a Tour Made in Scotland, but a publisher was never found and it would not be published until 1874. A late 19th century painting of a jaunting car similar to the one used by Dorothy, William and Samuel- Recollections of a Tour Made in Scotland, A. D. 1803 (1874) is a travel memoir by Dorothy Wordsworth about a six-week, 663-mile journey through the Scottish Highlands in August...

Dorothy never married and lived with William most of her life. Her last decades were marked by extended physical and mental illness.

The Grasmere Journal

For nearly a century, Wordsworth was relegated to a footnote in her brother's life. Dorothy's Grasmere Journal was first published in 1897, edited by William Knight. Then, in 1931, Dove Cottage, the Lake District home where Dorothy and William lived for several years, was bought by Beatrix Potter, author of Peter Rabbit and other children's books. In the barn, Potter found a bundle of old papers and realized that they were Dorothy's journals. // John Betjeman, Mount Zion Edmund Blunden publishes Wilfred Owens poems Hilda Doolittle (H.D.), Red Roses for Bronze Pulitzer Prize for Poetry: Robert Frost: Collected Poems February 2 — Judith Viorst, American author known for her childrens books and poetry April 19 — Etheridge Knight, (died 1991), an African-American... Dove Cottage Dove Cottage is a house on the edge of Grasmere in the Lake District. ... The panorama across Eskdale from Ill Crag. ... (Helen) Beatrix Potter (28 July 1866 – 22 December 1943) was an English author and illustrator, botanist, and conservationist, best known for her childrens books, which featured animal characters such as Peter Rabbit. ... Peter Rabbit and wife being asked for cabbages by Benjamin and Flopsy Bunny in The Tale of the Flopsy Bunnies Peter Rabbit is the main character in a series of childrens books by Beatrix Potter. ...

Potter's discovery was published in 1933 as The Grasmere Journal. The journal eloquently described her day-to-day life in the Lake District, long walks she and her brother took through the countryside, and detailed portraits of literary lights of the early 19th century, including Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Sir Walter Scott, Charles Lamb and Robert Southey, a close friend who popularized the fairytale Goldilocks and the Three Bears. // Black Mountain College founded as a progressive, experimental educational institution which attracted poets who became known as the Black Mountain School of poetry. ... Alternative meaning: Nineteenth Century (periodical) (18th century — 19th century — 20th century — more centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 19th century was that century which lasted from 1801-1900 in the sense of the Gregorian calendar. ... Samuel Taylor Coleridge (October 21, 1772 – July 25, 1834) (pronounced ) was an English poet, critic, and philosopher who was, along with his friend William Wordsworth, one of the founders of the Romantic Movement in England and one of the Lake Poets. ... For the first Premier of Saskatchewan see Thomas Walter Scott Sir Walter Scott (August 14, 1771 - September 21, 1832) was a prolific Scottish historical novelist and poet popular throughout Europe. ... Charles Lamb (1775-1834) Charles Lamb (10 February 1775 –- 27 December 1834) was an English essayist, best known for his Essays of Elia and for the childrens book Tales from Shakespeare, which he produced along with his sister, Mary Lamb (1764–1847). ... Robert Southey, English poet Robert Southey (August 12, 1774 – March 21, 1843) was an English poet of the Romantic school, one of the so-called Lake Poets, and Poet Laureate. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged into The Three Bears. ...

Dorothy Wordsworth's works came to light just as literary critics were beginning to re-examine women's role in literature. The success of the Grasmere Journal led to a renewed interest in Wordsworth, and several other journals and collections of her letters have since been published. Feminist literary criticism is literary criticism informed by feminist theory, or by the politics of feminism more broadly. ...

Also, the Grasmere Journal and Wordsworth's other works revealed how vital she was to her brother's success. William relied on his sister's detailed accounts of nature scenes when writing poems and borrowed freely from her journals. For instance, compare lines from one of William Wordsworth's most famous poems "I Wandered as Lonely as a Cloud,"

...All at once I saw a crowd,

A host, of golden daffodils;

Beside the lake, beneath the trees,

Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.

Continuous as the stars that shine

And twinkle on the milky way,

They stretched in never-ending line

Along the margin of a bay:

Ten thousand saw I at a glance,

Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.

The waves beside them danced; but they

Out-did the sparkling waves in glee

To this entry from Dorothy's journal:

When we were in the woods beyond Gowbarrow park we saw a few daffodils close to the water side. We fancied that the lake had floated the seeds ashore and that the little colony had so sprung up. But as we went along there were more and yet more and at last under the boughs of the trees, we saw that there was a long belt of them along the shore, about the breadth of a country turnpike road. I never saw daffodils so beautiful they grew among the mossy stones about and about them, some rested their heads upon these stones as on a pillow for weariness and the rest tossed and reeled and danced and seemed as if they verily laughed with the wind that blew upon them over the lake, they looked so gay ever glancing ever changing. This wind blew directly over the lake to them. There was here and there a little knot and a few stragglers a few yards higher up but they were so few as not to disturb the simplicity and unity and life of that one busy highway. The Hyde Park Toll Gate, London. ...

Bibliography

Additional sources of biographical information and a compilation of Dorothy's writings can be found in de Selincourt's volumes. Levin, Alexander, and Mellor have all published books which focus on or include criticism on Dorothy's work. See also The Grasmere and Alfoxden Journals, published by Oxford World's Classics.

See also: List of English language poets Poets who wrote or write much of their poetry in the English language. ...

External links

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to:

Dorothy Wordsworth

• http://www.kirjasto.sci.fi/dwordsw.htm
• WorldCat Identities page for 'Wordsworth, Dorothy 1771-1855'