Birth: April 7, 1770, Cockermouth, Cumberland, Great Britain
Death: April 23, 1850, Grasmere Vale, Great Britain
Early Influences:
- Mother died when he was eight and Father died when he was 13
- Separated from his sister, Dorothy, in 1778 and did not see her again until 1787
- Visited France in 1790 and influenced by the turmoil of the French Revolution
- Greatly affected by his brother's death in 1805
Education:
- Attended Hawkshead Grammar School in 1778
- Attended Cambridge from 1787-1791 but failed to graduate
- Left college in 1791 in order to return to France and support the Revolution
Major Accomplishments:
- Lyrical Ballads in 1798 with Samuel Taylor Coleridge
- "Ode: Intimations of Immortality" written 1804
- The Prelude - Long autobiographical poem written between 1798-1805
- Wrote 523 sonnets
Significance:
- With Samuel Taylor Coleridge ushered in the English Romantic movement
- Many consider him the most important English Romantic poet
- Wrote one of the most famous poems in English Literature: "Ode: Intimations of Immortality"
Contemporaries:
- Samuel Taylor Coleridge - Poet
- Ludwig von Beethoven - Composer
- Maximilien Robespierre - French Revolution leader and politician
