The Prelude: The Four Texts (1798,1799,1805,1850)

First published in July 1850, shortly after Wordsworths death, The Prelude was the culmination of over fifty years of creative work. The great Romantic poem of human consciousness, it takes as its theme the growth of a poets mind: leading the reader back to Wordsworths formative moments of childhood and youth, and detailing his experiences as a radical undergraduate in France at the time of the Revolution. Initially inspired by Coleridges exhortation that Wordsworth write a work upon the French Revolution, The Prelude has ultimately become one of the finest examples of poetic autobiography ever written; a fascinating examination of the self that also presents a comprehensive view of the poets own creative vision.