Wordsworth's Historical Imagination (Routledge Revivals): The Poetry of Displacement (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9781138804142)

Traditionally, Wordsworth's greatness is founded on his identity as the poet of nature and solitude. In this title, first published in 1987, David Simpson challenges this established view of Wordsworth, arguing that it fails to recognize and explain the importance of the context of the public sphere and the social environment to the authentic experience of the imagination. Through close examination of a few important poems, both well-known and relatively unknown, Simpson shows that there is no unitary, public Wordsworth, nor is there a conflict or tension between the private and the public.