![]() ![]() Nonetheless it is the case that Wordsworth is a huge presence in the canon of English poetry his achievement is as important as that of Milton. Retain his intelligence though he surely did, the more celebrated he became as the national (if not world) poet the more he appears to have been treading water, poetically, in his final years. He remained an industrious versifier, but seemed to lose his way his poetry no longer guided the reader ever more deeply into the inner world of the self – the territory he had, as it were, pioneered through the most creative period of his career. To cap it all, he bowed the knee and accepted the role of Poet Laureate. It is true that the erstwhile supporter of the French Revolution and champion of the poor and unregarded (in his early verses) later became a friend to the aristocracy, and was happy to accept the post of Distributor of Stamps for Westmoreland. Some have expressed the opinion that he lived too long, declining into a sad old age (having become, by the end, an institution rather than an individual voice), as if to say that had he died young like Keats or Shelley, he would have been a better poet. R. H. H., AudioFile Magazine Booklet Notes This collection is a delight in every way. With perfect pacing and a wide range of emotions, the speakers perform works that vary in topic – from the appreciation of natural beauty in the Lake District of England to the more enigmatic blank verse of ‘The Prelude.’ The poems are elegantly presented and organized but are not too precious – as evidenced by the country ghost story ‘Goody Blake and Harry Gill,’ which is included. Davies’s more mature voice alternating with Britton’s younger one enables listeners to understand the flowery language and poetic conventions of the late eighteenth century. Oliver Ford Davies and Jasper Britton bring cultured accents and theatrical experience to the readings of this selection of poems by William Wordsworth.
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