William and Dorothy Wordsworth

This book is the first literary biography of the Wordsworths' creative collaboration. It uses poems, letters, journals, memoirs and biographies to plot their intertwined lives. The book is structured chronologically, in sixteen chapters, using Dorothy's journals to focalise the narrative in relation to the places where she and her brother lived and wrote. Its biographical method enables a careful exploration of the Wordsworths' unfolding relationship across the entirety of their lives. We see how they responded to the trauma of early separation and bereavement; to the experience of travelling, living abroad, re-settling in their native region, raising children, and growing old. We see the interconnectedness of their writings in relation to their daily domestic lives, and we come to understand the nature of their lifelong preoccupation with the idea of home. Dorothy Wordsworth is not presented as an undervalued or exploited member of her brother's household, but as the poet's equal in a literary partnership of outstanding importance. The book's personal approach and accessible style appeal to a wide range of readers; while its grounding in recent scholarship make it useful to academics and students alike.