William Wordsworth (1770-1850)

William Wordsworth (1770-1850) was a major English Romantic poet. His Lyrical Ballads, published with Samuel Taylor Coleridge in 1798, is widely credited with launching the Romantic movement in England.

He famously sought to write poetry in "the real language of men," and defined poetry as "the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings from emotions recollected in tranquility."

Wordsworth is a major figure on the GRE Literature exam.

1. "It is a Beauteous Evening (Calm and Free)"

2. "My heart leaps up (when I behold)"

3. "The world is too much with us"
-loosely follows the form of an Italian sonnet

4. "Lines composed a few miles above Tintern Abbey"
-Part of the Lyrical Ballads
(link goes to separate entry)

5. The "Lucy" poems
-Part of the Lyrical Ballads
(link goes to separate entry)

6. The Prelude
(link goes to separate entry)

The Prelude may be worth adding to your GRE reading list, but not as a high priority. I recommend William Wordsworth - The Major Works (Oxford World's Classics).