Wordsworth chronology & bio

Question 1

What was the date of WW’s birth?

Answer 1

April 7, 1770

Question 2

Where was WW born?

Answer 2

Cockermouth, Cumberland

Question 3

Who was WW’s father?

Answer 3

John Wordsworth

Question 4

WW’s father, John, was law-agent to whom?

Answer 4

Sir James Lowther (later Lord Lonsdale)

Question 5

Who was WW’s mother?

Answer 5

Anne Wordsworth

Question 6

What day was DW born?

Answer 6

December 25, 1771

Question 7

In 1776, WW started studying Latin at a school in Penrith. What was the name of the school?

Answer 7

Gilbanks’ school

Question 8

What year did Anne Wordsworth die?

Answer 8

1778

Question 9

What was the name of the grammar school WW began attending in 1779?

Answer 9

Hawkshead Free Grammar School

Question 10

What year did WW’s father, John Wordsworth, die?

Answer 10

1783

Question 11

After the death of WW’s father, who assumed responsibility for the children?

Answer 11

Richard Wordsworth, a cousin, and Christopher Cookson, an uncle

Question 12

What year did WW compose his first verses?

Answer 12

1784

Question 13

WW’s first published poem, “Sonnet, on Seeing Miss Helen Maria Williams Weep at a Tale of Distress,” appears in the European Magazine in what year?

Answer 13

1787 (the same year he enters St. John’s College, Cambridge

Question 14

What year does WW enter St. John’s College, Cambridge?

Answer 14

1787 (the same year he publishes his first poem in European Magazine)

Question 15

What year does WW begin composing ‘An Evening Walk’?

Answer 15

1788

Question 16

What year does WW embark on a walking tour with Robert Jones through France, Switzerland, and the Rhineland?

Answer 16

1790

Question 17

What year does WW receive his BA from Cambridge?

Answer 17

1791

Question 18

What year does WW climb Mt. Snowdon, as described in Prelude 13?

Answer 18

1791

Question 19

With 40 pounds from his cousin Richard, WW travels to Paris and then Orleans, where he becomes acquainted with the Dufour and Vallon families. What year?

Answer 19

1791

Question 20

What year does WW compose ‘Descriptive Sketches’?

Answer 20

1791

Question 21

WW travels to Blois, befriends Michel Beaupuy, and has love affair with Annette Vallon in what year?

Answer 21

1792

Question 22

What year is Anne-Caroline Wordsworth, daughter of William and Annette Vallon, born?

Answer 22

1792

Question 23

France declares war on Britain in the same year that WW does the following:
1. Publishes ‘An Evening Walk’ and ‘Descriptive Sketches’
2. Writes (but does not publish) ‘Letter to the Bishop of Llandaff’
3. Takes walking tour of Salisbury Plain and Wales
4. Visits Stonehenge and Tintern Abbey
5. Begins composing Salisbury Plain
What year is this?

Answer 23

1793

Question 24

In what year is WW reunited with DW in Halifax, Yorkshire?

Answer 24

1794 (WW and DW travel together to the Lake District and nurse Raisley Calvert in Keswick)

Question 25

What year does Raisley Calvert pass away, and what does Calvert leave to WW?

Answer 25

1795; a 900-pound legacy

Question 26

In what year does WW: 1. Meet frequently with William Godwin in London; 2. Meet Robert Southey and Coleridge in Bristol; 3. Revise 'Salisbury Plain'; 4. Move with DW to Racedown, Dorset

Answer 26

1795

Question 27

In what year does WW 1. face a moral crisis (described in Prelude 10), and 2. begin 'The Borderers'?

Answer 27

1796

Question 28

In what year does WW complete 'The Borderers' and begin 'The Ruined Cottage'?

Answer 28

1797

Question 29

In what year do WW and DW move to Alfoxden Farm, Somerset, in order to be nearer Coleridge?

Answer 29

1797 (visits from John Thelwall, Basil Montagu, and Joseph Cottle arouse suspicion of government spies)

Question 30

In what year does WW 1. take his first walking tour with STC and DW; 2. Plan composition of "Rime of the Ancient Mariner' and 'Lyrical Ballads' w/ STC?

Answer 30

1797

Question 31

In what year does WW: 1. Plan 'The Recluse' 2. Compose sections of 'The Ruined Cottage,' 'The Old Cumberland Beggar,' poems for 'LB,' and 'Peter Bell'?

Answer 31

1798

Question 32

In what year does WW first revisit Tintern Abbey and Wye River valley with DW, followed by his composition of the famous poem?

Answer 32

1798

Question 33

The first edition of Lyrical Ballads is published in September of what year?

Answer 33

1798

Question 34

In what year does WW spend autumn and winter with DW in Goslar, composing the first version of 'The Prelude,' 'Ruth,' and the 'Lucy poems'?

Answer 34

1798

Question 35

In this eventful year, WW: 1. Returns to England with DW 2. Develops plan of The Prelude 3. Revise 'The Borderers' and 'The Old Cumberland Beggar' 4. Take a walking tour with STC 5. Move to Dove Cottage, Grasmere, with DW

Answer 35

1799

Question 36

In what year does WW: 1. Begin 'Home at Grasmere' 2. Plans, and composes new poems for, the second edition of 'Lyrical Ballads'

Answer 36

1800

Question 37

Though the title page displays the previous year's date, the second edition of 'Lyrical Ballads' is published in January of what year?

Answer 37

1801

Question 38

In what year does WW begin to receive frequent visits from Mary Hutchinson?

Answer 38

1801 (the same year the second ed. of Lyrical Ballads is pub'd)

Question 39

In what year does the Coleridge family move into Greta Hall, Keswick?

Answer 39

1800

Question 40

In what year does WW: 1. Compose 'The Leech Gatherer' (published years later, in 1807, as 'Resolution and Independence) 2. Visit Annette Vallon and daughter Caroline with DW in Calais during the peace of Amiens

Answer 40

1802

Question 41

What year does WW get married to Mary Hutchinson?

Answer 41

1802

Question 42

What year does WW visit Annette Vallon and daughter Caroline with DW in Calais during the Peace of Amiens?

Answer 42

1802

Question 43

What year is WW and MW's first son, John, born?

Answer 43

1803

Question 44

In what year does WW complete his second walking tour with STC and DW, this time in Scotland, where he meets Walter Scott?

Answer 44

1803

Question 45

In what year do the following occur: 1. WW enlarges 'The Prelude' from five-book plan. 2. WW communicates plan of The Recluse to Thomas De Quincey 3. WW and MW's second child, a daughter, Dora, is born

Answer 45

1804

Question 46

In February of what year does WW learn that his brother John has drowned in the wreck of The Earl of Abergavenny?

Answer 46

1805

Question 47

What year is WW and DW's brother John born?

Answer 47

1772

Question 48

In what year is the fourth edition of LB published?

Answer 48

1805

Question 49

In what year do the following occur: 1. WW is in London, meeting literary and political figures 2. WW and MW's third child, a son, Thomas, is born 3. Wordsworths live at the Beaumonts' house in Coleorton, Leicestershire, where they receive a visit from STC

Answer 49

1806

Question 50

What year does WW read The Prelude to STC?

Answer 50

1807

Question 51

What year does WW publish 'Poems, in Two Volumes' (to unfavorable reviews)?

Answer 51

1807

Question 52

In what year does WW begin composing The White Roe of Rylstone?

Answer 52

1807

Question 53

In what year does the following occur: 1. WW assists STC with his periodical The Friend 2. WW and MW's fourth child, a daughter, Caroline, is born 3. WW is visited by De Quincey 4. The Wordsworths move to Allan Bank, Grasmere

Answer 53

1808

Question 54

In what year does WW contribute 'Essays upon Epitaphs' to The Friend and work on 'The Excursion'?

Answer 54

1810

Question 55

What year is WW and MW's fifth child, William, born?

Answer 55

1810

Question 56

In what year does WW make unflattering comments about STC to Basil Montagu, precipitating a two-year break with STC?

Answer 56

1810

Question 57

In what year does Henry Crabb Robinson effect a partial reconciliation between WW and STC after the Montagu affair separated them?

Answer 57

1812

Question 58

In what year do two of WW's children pass away, Catharine and Thomas?

Answer 58

1812

Question 59

In what year does the following occur: 1. WW works on The Excursion 2. WW is appointed Distributor of Stamps (a position in the revenue service) for Westmorland 3. Wordsworths move to Rydal Mount, WW's final home

Answer 59

1813

Question 60

In what year do the following occur: 1. WW revises The Excursion and publishes it to unfavorable reviews 2. WW writes 'Essay, Supplementary to the Preface' for a collection of his poems 3. WW tours Scotland with Mary and Sara Hutchinson

Answer 60

1814

Question 61

In what year does WW publish the second edition of Poems, in Two Vol.'s in addition to 'The White Doe of Rylestone'?

Answer 61

1815

Question 62

What year is the much reviled 'Thanksgiving Ode' published? (Also the year WW's daughter Caroline marries Jean-Baptiste Baudouin in Paris)

Answer 62

1816

Question 63

In what year does WW: 1. Read STC's criticism of his poetry & poetic theory in Biographia Literaria; 2. Have strained exchanges with STC at dinner parties in London; 3. Meet John Keats at Charles Lamb's "Immortal Dinner."

Answer 63

1817

Question 64

In what year does WW: 1. Receive two visits from Keats in London 2. Propagandize in Westmorland on behalf of Tory party before general election 3. Compose sonnets about the River Duddon

Answer 64

1818

Question 65

In what year does WW publish 'Peter Bell' and 'The Waggoner'?

Answer 65

1819

Question 66

In what year do the following occur: 1. WW publishes The River Duddon 2. WW, MW, DW, and others tour Belgium, the Rhineland, Switzerland, northern Italy, and France, with Crabb Robinson joining the party in Switzerland. 3. WW meets Annette Vallon and Caroline Baudouin in Paris. 4. WW publishes Poems in four volumes

Answer 66

1820

Question 67

What year does WW publish Ecclesiastical Sketches and the first separate edition of A Description of the Scenery of the Lakes?

Answer 67

1822

Question 68

In what year does WW 1. Suffer from trachoma; 2. Abandon a planned trip with MW to Belgium, Holland, and France; 3. Translate books 1 and 2 of Virgil's Aeneid?

Answer 68

1823

Question 69

What year does WW tour Belgium, the Rhineland, and Holland with Dora and STC?

Answer 69

1828

Question 70

What year does WW tour Ireland with John Marshall, a longtime acquaintance?

Answer 70

1829

Question 71

What year does WW 1. Receive visit from Felicia Hemans; 2. Visit Coleridge in Highgate

Answer 71

1830

Question 72

In what year does WW 1. Attend meetings of opponents to parliamentary reform; 2. Begin revising The Prelude?

Answer 72

1831

Question 73

In what year is WW visited by Ralph Waldo Emerson?

Answer 73

1833

Question 74

In what year does WW learn that STC died, and Dora becomes seriously ill?

Answer 74

1834

Question 75

In what year does WW: 1. Publish first American edition of his poetical works 2. Tour France, Italy, Austria, and Germany with Crabb Ronbinson, seeing Annette and Caroline for the last time in Paris and visiting Keats's friend Joseph Severn in Rome

Answer 75

1837

Question 76

What year does WW receive an honorary degree from the new University of Durham?

Answer 76

1838

Question 77

What year does WW make his final revisions to The Prelude?

Answer 77

1839

Question 78

In what year does WW receive visit from the Queen Dowager?

Answer 78

1840

Question 79

What year does Dora Wordsworth marry Edward Quillinan after a long engagement?

Answer 79

1841

Question 80

What year does WW accept the Poet Laureateship?

Answer 80

1843

Question 81

What year does Dora Wordsworth die of tuberculosis?

Answer 81

1847

Question 82

What year does the following occur: 1. WW suffers attack of pleurisy 2. WW dies and is buried in Grasmere 3. Mary gives The Prelude its title and arranges for its publication 4. The Prelude (fourteen-book version) is published

Answer 82

1850

Question 83

What is the date of WW's death?

Answer 83

April 23, 1850