Wordsworth was, in his time, known well by his fellow British poets, but also a household name among people whose work was not reading and writing. A popular poet in English schoolrooms through the early 1900s, he eventually became unfashionable, seen as a sentimental, naive Romantic. Now that writers and readers are again deeply interested in the environment and man's relationship to it, Wordsworth is again a respected and important poet for professional writers and students alike.
Man's experience of nature was vital to William Wordsworth's life and work, but there were other matters of importance. Admired by American naturalist John Muir and nineteenth century American...