Read & Co. presents Wordsworth's collected works; “The Prelude”, “The Recluse” and “The Excursion” together in one volume with additional biographical excerpts by Anna Maria Hall, Leigh Hunt and Thomas Carlyle. A fantastic collection of Wordsworth's best poetry not to be missed by fans and collectors of his wonderful work.

“The Prelude”, a poem written in blank verse, is Wordsworth's autobiographical magnum opus within which he offers the reader a plethora of personal details about his life. He began writing when he was just 28 and continued to work on it throughout his life. Changed and expanded many times, it was originally conceived as an introduction to “The Recluse”, an unfinished work. “The Excursion” is the second and only completed part of Wordsworth's “The Recluse”. It revolves around three central figures: the Solitary, who has lived through the horrors and hopes of the French Revolution; the Pastor, to whom a third of the poem is dedicated; and the Wanderer. “The Recluse” was to be Wordsworth's three-part masterpiece, but tragically remains uncompleted.

William Wordsworth (1770–1850) was an English Romantic poet famous for helping to usher in the Romantic Age in English literature with the publication of “Lyrical Ballads” (1798), which he co-wrote with Samuel Taylor Coleridge. He was also notably poet laureate of Britain between 1843 until his death in 1850. Other notable works by this author include: “The Tables Turned”, “The Thorn”, and “Lines Composed A Few Miles above Tintern Abbey”.