Dorothy Wordsworth
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Dorothy Wordsworth (25 December 1771 – 25 January 1855) was an English author, poet, and diarist. She was the sister of the Romantic poet
William Wordsworth William Wordsworth (7 April 177023 April 1850) was an English Romantic poetry, Romantic poet who, with Samuel Taylor Coleridge, helped to launch the Romanticism, Romantic Age in English literature with their joint publication ''Lyrical Balla ...
, and the two were close all their adult lives. Dorothy Wordsworth had no ambitions to be a public author, yet she left behind numerous letters, diary entries, topographical descriptions, poems, and other writings.


Early life and education

Dorothy Wordsworth was born in
Cockermouth Cockermouth is a market town and civil parish in the Cumberland unitary authority area of Cumbria, England. The name refers to the town's position by the confluence of the River Cocker into the River Derwent. At the 2021 census, the built u ...
,
Cumberland Cumberland ( ) is an area of North West England which was historically a county. The county was bordered by Northumberland to the north-east, County Durham to the east, Westmorland to the south-east, Lancashire to the south, and the Scottish ...
on December 25, 1771. She was the sister of English Romantic poet
William Wordsworth William Wordsworth (7 April 177023 April 1850) was an English Romantic poetry, Romantic poet who, with Samuel Taylor Coleridge, helped to launch the Romanticism, Romantic Age in English literature with their joint publication ''Lyrical Balla ...
and the third of five children born to Ann Cookson and John Wordsworth. Following the death of her mother in 1778, Dorothy was sent alone to live with her second cousin, Elizabeth Threlkeld, in
Halifax, West Yorkshire Halifax is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Calderdale, in West Yorkshire, England. It is in the eastern foothills of the Pennines. In the 15th century, the town became an economic hub of the old West Riding of Yorkshire, primarily in woo ...
until 1787. During this period, Dorothy attended boarding school at
Hipperholme Hipperholme is a village in West Yorkshire, England, located between the towns of Halifax, West Yorkshire, Halifax and Brighouse in the Hipperholme and Lightcliffe ward of the Metropolitan Borough of Calderdale. The population of this ward at ...
before transferring to a day-school in Halifax. In 1787, Dorothy moved to her grandparents' house in Penrith, re-establishing contact with her siblings after a nine-year separation. She moved to Forncett parish in
Norfolk Norfolk ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in England, located in East Anglia and officially part of the East of England region. It borders Lincolnshire and The Wash to the north-west, the North Sea to the north and eas ...
in 1788 with her recently wedded uncle and his wife, where she remained for six years. Dorothy dedicated her time to domestic duties and corresponded regularly to her brother William and her childhood friend, Jane Pollard. In a letter to Jane, Dorothy mentioned starting a small school consisting of nine local girls. William spent six weeks in Forncett at the end of 1790, during which time the Wordsworth siblings began their enduring practice of undertaking long walks together. Dorothy and William maintained a close bond throughout their lives. In 1794, Dorothy was reunited with William after a three-year separation. The siblings resided at Old Windebrowe cottage for a period of two months. They later relocated to Racedown Lodge in Dorset, where they remained until 1797. During their time at Racedown, they began fostering a three-year-old boy named Basil Montagu. It was during this period that Dorothy was introduced to the poet
Samuel Taylor Coleridge Samuel Taylor Coleridge ( ; 21 October 177225 July 1834) was an English poet, literary critic, philosopher, and theologian who was a founder of the Romantic Movement in England and a member of the Lake Poets with his friend William Wordsworth ...
, whom William had briefly encountered two years prior, and from here the trio developed a close friendship. Coleridge wrote of Dorothy's character in a letter to his publisher: "Her information various—her eye watchful in minutest observation of nature".


Alfoxden and Grasmere

In July of 1797, despite facing financial constraints, Dorothy and William Wordsworth relocated to Alfoxton House in Somerset, a short distance from their new acquaintance Coleridge's residence. Together, Wordsworth and Coleridge, with insights from Dorothy, collaborated on "Lyrical Ballads" (1798). Among the collection is Wordsworth's famous poem "
Tintern Abbey Tintern Abbey ( ) is a ruined medieval abbey situated adjacent to the village of Tintern in Monmouthshire, on the Welsh bank of the River Wye, which at this location forms the border between Monmouthshire in Wales and Gloucestershire in England. ...
," inspired by their walking tour through
Wye Valley The Wye Valley () is a valley in Wales and England. The River Wye () is the Rivers of Great Britain#Longest rivers in the United Kingdom, fourth-longest river in the United Kingdom. The upper part of the valley is in the Cambrian Mountains an ...
in July 1798. In the poem's final section, Wordsworth writes of Dorothy: "For thou art with me, here, upon the banks \ Of this fair river; thou, my dearest Friend". The Wordsworths' stay at Alfoxton House was brief due to their financial difficulties. Dorothy began her ''Alfoxden Journal'' from January to May 1798, for which the manuscript is now lost. Subsequently, Dorothy, William, and Coleridge traveled to Germany in 1798, where Dorothy penned her "Hamburgh Journal." In December of 1799, Dorothy and William settled in Dove Cottage, located in Grasmere within England’s
Lake District The Lake District, also known as ''the Lakes'' or ''Lakeland'', is a mountainous region and National parks of the United Kingdom, national park in Cumbria, North West England. It is famous for its landscape, including its lakes, coast, and mou ...
, where they resided until May 1808. Dorothy's ''Grasmere Journal,'' first published in 1897 and edited by William Angus Knight, provides a glimpse into their life during this period. Starting in 1800 and concluding with the completion of a notebook in 1803, the journal captures Dorothy's daily experiences in the Lake District. It recounts their countryside walks and offers detailed portraits of notable literary figures of the early 19th century, such as
Samuel Taylor Coleridge Samuel Taylor Coleridge ( ; 21 October 177225 July 1834) was an English poet, literary critic, philosopher, and theologian who was a founder of the Romantic Movement in England and a member of the Lake Poets with his friend William Wordsworth ...
,
Sir Walter Scott Sir Walter Scott, 1st Baronet (15 August 1771 – 21 September 1832), was a Scottish novelist, poet and historian. Many of his works remain classics of European literature, European and Scottish literature, notably the novels ''Ivanhoe'' (18 ...
,
Charles Lamb Charles Lamb (10 February 1775 – 27 December 1834) was an English essayist, poet, and antiquarian, best known for his '' Essays of Elia'' and for the children's book '' Tales from Shakespeare'', co-authored with his sister, Mary Lamb (1764†...
, and
Robert Southey Robert Southey (; 12 August 1774 – 21 March 1843) was an English poet of the Romantic poetry, Romantic school, and Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom, Poet Laureate from 1813 until his death. Like the other Lake Poets, William Wordsworth an ...
. The Grasmere journals are considered fragmentary in nature and were originally intended for an audience consisting mainly of William and a select few close friends and family members.


Rydal and her final years

In 1802, Dorothy journeyed with William to Gallow Hill, Yorkshire for his marriage to Mary Hutchinson. Dorothy did not attend the wedding ceremony. After their marriage, the Wordsworth siblings, with the addition of William’s new wife, returned to Grasmere. Dorothy played a devoted role in the lives of William and Mary's children born in the following years. In 1803, Dorothy joined William and Samuel Taylor Coleridge on a six-week tour of the
Scottish Highlands The Highlands (; , ) is a historical region of Scotland. Culturally, the Highlands and the Scottish Lowlands, Lowlands diverged from the Late Middle Ages into the modern period, when Scots language, Lowland Scots language replaced Scottish Gae ...
. This journey inspired her to pen '' Recollections of a Tour Made in Scotland'', which was, according to Dorothy, written for "the sake of a few friends, who, it seemed, ought to have been with us." She concluded her renowned ''Grasmere Journal'' in the same year. The Wordsworths settled in
Rydal Mount Rydal Mount is a house in the small village of Rydal, Cumbria, Rydal, near Ambleside in the English Lake District. It is best known as the home of the poet William Wordsworth from 1813 to his death in 1850. It is currently operated as a writer' ...
in 1813, where Dorothy resided for the remainder of her life. Alongside her friend Mary Barker, Dorothy ascended
Scafell Pike Scafell Pike () is a mountain in the Lake District region of Cumbria, England. It has an elevation of above sea level, making it the highest and the most prominent mountain in England. The mountain is part of the Scafell massif, an extinct v ...
in 1818, an experience she documented in "An Excursion up Scawfell Pike." Additionally, she embarked on a continental tour of the Alps in 1820, documenting her travels in "Journal of a Tour on the Continent". The following years saw Dorothy engaging in further explorations, including tours of the Scottish Highlands and Edinburgh, resulting in "Journal of my Second Tour in Scotland, 1822". From 1824 to 1835, Dorothy wrote of daily events, with frequent gaps, in her ''Rydal Journals''. These journals, apart from the "Isle of Man" sequence, have not yet been published. In 1829, Dorothy fell seriously ill, followed by a brief recovery period and eventual relapse in 1831. Despite battling a degenerative illness, Dorothy continued writing, including compositions later published in William Wordsworth's collections. Due to her health, Dorothy was cared for by her brother William, his wife Mary, and the Rydal staff. Following William's passing in April 1850, Dorothy's health continued to decline until her death on 25 January 1855.


Writing

Wordsworth was primarily a diarist, and she also wrote poetry though without much interest in becoming an established poet. She almost published her account of traveling in Scotland with William and Samuel Taylor Coleridge in 1803, '' Recollections of a Tour Made in Scotland'', but a publisher was not found, and it would not be published until 1874. She wrote a very early account of an ascent of
Scafell Pike Scafell Pike () is a mountain in the Lake District region of Cumbria, England. It has an elevation of above sea level, making it the highest and the most prominent mountain in England. The mountain is part of the Scafell massif, an extinct v ...
in 1818, climbing the mountain in the company of her friend Mary Barker, Miss Barker's maid, and two local people to act as guide and porter. Dorothy's work was used in 1822 (and later in 1823 and 1835) by her brother William, unattributed, in his popular guide book to the
Lake District The Lake District, also known as ''the Lakes'' or ''Lakeland'', is a mountainous region and National parks of the United Kingdom, national park in Cumbria, North West England. It is famous for its landscape, including its lakes, coast, and mou ...
– and this was then copied by
Harriet Martineau Harriet Martineau (12 June 1802 – 27 June 1876) was an English social theorist.Hill, Michael R. (2002''Harriet Martineau: Theoretical and Methodological Perspectives'' Routledge. She wrote from a sociological, holism, holistic, religious and ...
in her equally successful guide (in its fourth edition by 1876), but with attribution, if only to William Wordsworth. The account was quoted in other guidebooks as well. Consequently, this story was very widely read by the many visitors to the Lake District over more than half of the 19th century. The ''Grasmere Journal'' and Dorothy's other works revealed how vital she was to her brother's success. William relied on her detailed accounts of nature scenes and borrowed freely from her journals. He drew inspiration from Dorothy's journal entry of the sibling's encounter with a field of daffodils: In his poem, " I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud," William describes what appears to be the shared experience in the journal as his own solitary observation. Dorothy's observations and descriptions have been considered to be as poetic if not more so than those of her brother. In her time she was described as being one of the few writers who could have provided so vivid and picturesque a scene.


Critical reception

Dorothy Wordsworth's works came to light just as literary critics were beginning to re-examine women's role in literature. The success of the ''Grasmere Journal'' led to a renewed interest in Wordsworth, and several other journals and collections of her letters have since been published. Scholar Anne Mellor has identified Wordsworth as demonstrating a "model of affiliation rather than a model of individual achievement", more commonly associated with
Romanticism Romanticism (also known as the Romantic movement or Romantic era) was an artistic and intellectual movement that originated in Europe towards the end of the 18th century. The purpose of the movement was to advocate for the importance of subjec ...
.


Selected works


Major works

*
Alfoxden Journal
' (1798) *
Grasmere Journal
' (1800–1803) *
Recollections of a Tour Made in Scotland
' (A.D. 1803)


Other works

*
Journal of Visit to Hamburgh and of Journey from Hamburgh to Goslar
' (1798) *
Excursion on the Banks of Ullswater
' (November 1805) *
A Narrative concerning George and Sarah Green
' (1808) *
Excursion up Scawfell Pike
' (October 7, 1818) *
Journal of a Tour on the Continent
' (1820) *
Journal of my Second Tour in Scotland
' (1822) *
Journal of a Tour in the Isle of Man
' (1828) - from the ''Rydal Journals'' * ''Rydal Journals'' (1824–1835) - fifteen small notebooks, most unpublished


Notes


Bibliography

* * * * * * * * *


External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Wordsworth, Dorothy 1771 births 1855 deaths 18th-century English diarists 19th-century English diarists 18th-century English women writers 19th-century English women writers People from Cockermouth English women poets English women diarists William Wordsworth
Dorothy Dorothy may refer to: *Dorothy (given name), a list of people with that name. Arts and entertainment Film and television * ''Dorothy'' (TV series), 1979 American TV series * Dorothy Mills, a 2008 French movie, sometimes titled simply ''Dorot ...
English travel writers