Wordsworth: An Inner Life

List of Illustrations vii

Preface viii

Acknowledgments xii

A Note on Texts xiv

Abbreviations xv

1 ‘Perhaps my pains might be beguil’d 1

2 ‘In black Helvellyn’s inmost womb’ 20

3 ‘Charg’d by magic’ 43

4 ‘The world is poisoned at the heart’ 69

5 ‘Their life is hidden with God’ 88

6 ‘The vital spirit of a perfect form’ 118

Part I: October 1798-April 1799 118

Between Parts I and II: April-May 1799 134

Part II: May-December 1799 146

7 ‘Serious musing and self-reproach’ 167

8 ‘I yearn towards some philosophic song’ 189

9 ‘That vast Abiding-place’ 210

10 ‘I only look’d for pain and grief’ 231

11 ‘Forbearance & self-sacrifice’ 257

12 ‘O teach me calm submission to thy will’ 275

Epilogue 303

Appendix: The White Doe of Rylstone (1808 Text) and it’s ‘Advertizement’ 316

Bibliography 347

Index 361