Wordsworth and the Critics: The Development of a Critical Reputation

The first full-length study of the reception of Wordsworth’s poetry and theory. William Wordsworth, often regarded as the High Priest of British Romantic Poetry, certainly had the longest career, extending from the Lyrical Ballads and descriptive poetry of 1790s to the late poetry of the 1840s. Wordsworth’s long span of productivity gave rise to a remarkable history of critical reception from the reviews of his contemporaries in journals and magazines; to the major statements of Matthew Arnold, John Stuart Mill, and others; to the amazing variety of books, essays, and theoretical approaches of the twentieth century. Although there have been a number of studies about the critical reception of Wordsworth’s poetry and critical theory, Professor Mahoney’s book is the first full-length study of how critics - from the earliest reviewers to the major Victorian voices, to the enormous 20th-century response - have approached the many facets of the great English Romantic’s work. Professor Mahoney’s book offers an engaging narrative of the reputation of a poet.