William Wordsworth's the Prelude

William Wordsworth''s long poem The Prelude is a fascinating work-as autobiography the fruit of many attempts at understanding the formative period of Wordsworth''s life; as a fragment of historical evidence from the revolutionary and post-revolutionary years; as an unstable literary text which mutated through at least five discernable versions from 1799-1839; and as a poem offering the pleasures of blank verse in a variety and to an intensity unmatched in English non-dramatic poetry. In this collection leading Wordsworth scholar Stephen Gill gathers together thirteen influential essays on The Prelude. The volume as a whole is a useful and inspiring companion for students and general readers of Wordsworth''s greatest but most demanding poem.