Abstracts
Abstract
A close examination of Dorothy Wordsworth and William Wordsworth’s writing indicates that they considered themselves as living in poverty for some years before their case was settled with Lord Lowther. Both their material circumstances and contemporary definitions of poverty led them to identify themselves as “poor.” This article examines that self-identification and its evidence in their writings. Finally, William Wordsworth’s poem, “Last of the Flock,” indicates that he rejected a narrow parish view of poverty for a wider view that included the right to own some property.
Appendices
Bibliographie
- Copeland, Edward. “Money.” The Cambridge Companion to Jane Austen. Ed. Edward Copeland and Juliet McMaster. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1997.
- Gill Stephen and Duncan Wu, eds. William Wordsworth: Selected Poetry. Oxford: Oxford UP, 1998.
- Hebron, Stephen. The British Libraries Writers’ Lives: William Wordsworth. London: The British Library Board, 2000.
- Lloyd, Sara. “Poverty.” Oxford Companion to the Romantic Age. Oxford: Oxford UP, 2001. 114-125.
- Wordsworth, Dorothy. The Grasmere and Alfoxden Journals. Ed. Pamela Woof. Oxford: Oxford UP, 2002.
- Wordsworth, William. “The Last of the Flock.” English Romantic Writers. Ed. David Perkins. Fort Worth: Harcourt Brace, 1995. 292-293.
- Wordsworth, William. The Ruined Cottage and The Pedlar. Ed. James Butler. Ithaca, NY: Cornell UP, 1979.
- Wordsworth, William and Dorothy. The Letters of William and Dorothy Wordsworth: The Early Years, 1787-1805. Ed. Ernest De Selincourt. Rev. Chester L. Shaver. Oxford: Clarendon P, 1967.