The Prelude: A Parallel Text (Penguin Classics) [Paperback]

William Wordsworth (Author), Jonathan Wordsworth (Editor)

Book Description

Series: Penguin Classics | Publication Date: May 1, 1996

First published in July 1850, shortly after Wordsworth's 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 poet's mind': leading the reader back to Wordsworth's 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 Coleridge's 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 poet's own creative vision.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

William Wordsworth was born in the Lake District in 1770 and died there eighty years later in 1850. He had three brothers and a sister, Dorothy, to whom he was extremely close. As an undergraduate at Cambridge, Wordsworth travelled widely and wrote poetry. He spent his twenties as a wanderer in France, Wales, London, the Lakes, Dorset and Germany. In France he fathered a child who he did not meet until she was nine, due to the war. In 1795 he was reunited with Dorothy and met Coleridge, who was to be a particular influence on his poetry. He became Poet Laureate in 1843. Jonathan Wordsworth is descended from William's younger brother Christopher, is Chairman of the Wordsworth Trust and a Lecturer in Romantic Studies at Oxford.

Product Details

• Paperback: 736 pages
• Publisher: Penguin Classics; Revised edition (May 1, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0140433694
• ISBN-13: 978-0140433692
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5.1 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #77,374 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars It was for this...., May 1, 2006

By 

Christopher J. Sharpe "Chris Sharpe" (Caracas, Venezuela) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Prelude: A Parallel Text (Penguin Classics) (Paperback)

"A good deal of [Wordsworth's poetry], perhaps most of it, is very dull, like a long walk on a grey day. But just as somewhere on that walk there might be a sudden and superb flash of beauty, so in Wordsworth's poetry there are short passages, perhaps only a line or so, that are miraculous. An apparently simple unadorned phrase will suddenly blaze in the reader's imagination. These moments of his, once experienced, are never forgotten, and we never entirely lose our response to them." - J. B. Priestley. Literature and Western Man (Collins, 1960).

The Prelude contains many of these unforgettable moments - certainly more than "short passages". Besides being a wonderful poem, the work gives the reader a unique insight into the life of the poet through his own words. The four versions give us a chance to appreciate how the poet grows and develops and how his views change over time. In many cases, changes to the 1805 manuscript appearing in the final 1850 publication do not seem to be improvements at all, but attempts to cover up previous indiscretions or to subdue outbursts of passion. The sentiment of the newer portions is often far from that of the earlier drafts. The two much shorter initial drafts, "Was It for This" and the Two-part Prelude of 1799, are very different to the later books and show a superb command of language. Not surprisingly, Wordsworth's relationship with nature is a major theme throughout the poem. The direct effect of growing up in the countryside is perhaps revealed more plainly than in his other poems and a quasi-religious philosophy is evident.

This Penguin version seems to me to offer as much as one could want for a non-academic reader. The 120-odd pages of notes are quite sufficient to understand the poem thoroughly.

This book will appeal to anyone who enjoys romantic poetry, nature or autobiography. A book to be savoured, not rushed. Highly recommended.

12 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Avoid the Kindle edition!!, November 4, 2010

By 

BassSax - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Prelude: The Four Texts (1798, 1799, 1805, 1850) (Penguin Classics) (Kindle Edition)

As is becoming depressingly evident, Penguin publishers show utter contempt for the Kindle. This is the third defective Penguin e-book that I have purchased for the Kindle, and it is clear that nobody has bothered to proof-read or format these works properly. Font sizes change randomly; words, sometimes 5 at a time, run into each other; and notes are often intrusive in the poetic texts, altering the line lengths. This edition of the Prelude, however, is the worst: as it is a parallel text edition, one would expect to be able to distinguish between the two versions, but no, it is as if it is one massive poem, with nothing to orient you to the differences except when the occasional line number recurs. Hopefully Oxford Classics will bring out more Kindle editions, as they seem to care about their readership.
Also avoid the Penguin versions of Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, and Dostoevsky's The Brothers Karamazov.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the All-Time Greatest Poems, March 25, 2010

By 

Bill R. Moore (New York, USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Prelude: A Parallel Text (Penguin Classics) (Paperback)

The Prelude is William Wordsworth's masterpiece and one of the greatest poems of all-time. It began as a relatively short, two part work finished in 1799 but was expanded to fourteen books by 1805. Wordsworth labored over it until 1839, polishing, making a few additions based on later events, and altering some of his more radical statements about the divinity of nature and mind to fit his increasing religious conservatism. He published several excerpts at various times, but the whole was not released - indeed, hardly even known - until shortly after his 1850 death. The edition has all three versions plus an early draft, giving readers the full experience.

The Prelude is now seen as his crowning achievement, at once his art's prelude and culmination. The work is of course an epic and highly influenced by prior ones from Spenser and Milton, but like Wordsworth's other major early work, it is ground-breakingly original. The subtitle describes it succinctly: "Growth of a Poet's Mind." After deciding to be a poet, Wordsworth surveyed his life to find the events, thoughts, and feelings qualifying him for the role, and this is the result. Though in verse, it gives an overview of his life to that point much like a traditional autobiography, but his real focus is internal. Wordsworth details what molded his mind - and perhaps more importantly, his heart - for poetry. Anyone curious about his life will naturally find it invaluable, and it is also of great value to those interested in the era. Wordsworth saw many important events, including the French Revolution nearly at first hand, and relates them vividly; this is an excellent primary source for both historians and biographers. Perhaps more notably, and at least more unusually, we also get a profoundly lifelike, detailed glimpse of rural England in the late eighteenth/early nineteenth centuries. Everything from speech to landscape is on display, and we get a fascinating glimpse of the awe felt by someone from such a place first beholding London, France, and the Alps. All this gives substantial value to the poem even for non-fans. However, intriguing and worthy as all this is, the real treasure is indeed watching the growth of Wordsworth's mind. Whether we care about or agree with him is irrelevant; the poem is profoundly searching, exploring the spiritual and philosophical questions haunting all intelligent people. The honesty, insight, and sheer reach are mesmerizing. We feel for and with Wordsworth as he struggles with identity and life because it is our struggle; very few works, especially in poetry, are as moving and thought-provoking at the same time. The poetry itself is also top-notch; perfectly wrought and eminently quotable, this blank verse stands with Shakespeare's and Milton's as the greatest in English. This is essential for anyone even remotely interested in English poetry.