Wordsworth
Selected Poems

This took me close to a month to read because of life events. I read about two chapters a day so that I could savour this biography. What was most fascinating about this work, was the way how Barker wrote about Wordsworth's relationship with Samuel Taylor Coleridge. It started out as a mutual realati......more

Truly enjoyed the prose style which made the 525 pages float along like a cloud. This is probably the best full biography of Wordsworth, superseding the one by expert Stephen Gill, while incorporating and expanding the superb work by Johnston in The Hidden Wordsworth, which unearthed the whole story......more

An amazing, deep account of possibly the greatest of the Romantic poets. We all cut our teeth on 'The Daffodils' at primary school. There is so much more to Wordsworth. I have read much of his work over the years; dip in and out of 'The Prelude' and you get parts of his life in his own words. Juliet......more

I loved Barker's clever interpretation of writings, characters and situations. Barker is overly kind to Wordsworth, turning a blind eye to his faults and weaknesses (what exactly was the nature of his relationship with the bevy of females who lived with him throughout his life?) but it is true we go......more

This is a readable and insightful biography. Occasionally it gets down into the weeds of the poet's day to day activities, more than one might think it needs to, and it also can be a tad jingoistic in spots--especially when the author refuses to tolerate any of the likely justified criticisms of Wor......more