Date
12-16-2025
Department
College of Arts and Sciences
Degree
Master of Arts in Literature (MA)
Chair
Brenda A. Ayres
Keywords
William Wordsworth, The Prelude, Revision, Spots of Time, Imagination, Poetic Growth
Disciplines
Arts and Humanities
Recommended Citation
King, Karen F., "Tracing the "Growth of the Poet's Mind" in the 1850 Version of The Prelude" (2025). Masters Theses. 1406.
https://digitalcommons.liberty.edu/masters/1406
Abstract
This work compares the 1805 and 1850 versions of William Wordsworth's autobiographical epic The Prelude to reveal that the revisions he made evidence his poetic growth. Critical scholarship has long discussed the poet's revisional habits, offering various rationales for his motivation and often dogmatically choosing a preferred version based on those assumptions. This paper first addresses these perspectives, then examines the structural details of Wordsworth's revisions through analysis of significant events in the poet's life that he relates in the epic, his "spots of time". Finally, I discuss the role of imagination as an influencer on the poet's growth. Although he was unaware at the time, Wordsworth became the "Father of English Romanticism". His radical departure from the formulaic literary style of the Enlightenment pioneered an approach to poetry that still inspires readers and influences poets today.
