The Mind Turned Inward: Imagination in Wordsworth's Two Part Prelude Anonymous College

Romantic poets including Samuel Taylor Coleridge, John Keats and this essay’s focus, William Wordsworth, are all drawn to a particular theme in their respective work – the imagination. Imagination is a concept that defies easy analysis and one which normally eludes definition, rendering it a fascinating discussion point for poets and their critics alike. For Wordsworth, imagination plays a vital role in his poetry – sometimes as a force that can be identified but other times as a power recognised only through retrospection (Lynch 2). What has now become known as The Prelude is arguably Wordsworth’s most famous work, the last of the three versions amounting to 14 epic books. However, this essay will focus on the first version of the poem, written between 1798 and 1799 and later titled The Two-Part Prelude, which would later make up the first two books of the full 1850 version.

Sometimes titled Growth of a Poet’s Mind; An Autobiographical Poem, this blank verse poem tracks the development of Wordsworth’s creativity from childhood to self-proclaimed and acclaimed poetic genius. A lot of the poem responds to his interactions with the natural world and how those experiences shaped and informed his poetic expression. This poem, like...