Wordsworth Writing

Bennett's analysis of the act and idea of writing produces provocative readings of the major poems.

Andrew Bennett (Author)

9780521874199, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 16 August 2007

268 pages
22.9 x 15.2 x 1.6 cm, 0.572 kg

"The whole book is carried off with the dark charisma that distinguishes the best examples of the deconstructive method; and its appearance in the Cambridge series feels quietly momentous... it is good to read something that goes about things differently – and which grows, too, from so shrewd and keen an attention to the perplexed vitality of Wordsworth’s language" -
-Seamus Perry, The Wordsworth Circle

Andrew Bennett challenges the popular conception of Wordsworth as a writer who didn't so much write poetry as compose it aloud or in his head (usually while walking, and preferably while ascending mountains). The act and idea of writing is in fact central to the themes and to the rhetorical texture of Wordsworth's poetry. This wide-ranging study considers various aspects of Wordsworth's compositional practice, including questions of revision and dictation, of monumental inscription and graffiti, of talking and thinking, and of the poet's own theory of composition, and examines the implications of a critical tradition that erroneously assumes that Wordsworth employed exclusively 'oral' modes of composition. For Wordsworth, acts of writing were important dimensions of his poetry and indeed of his sense of personal and poetic identity. Bennett contends that a sustained attention to the question of writing in Wordsworth produces compelling readings of the major poems.

Introduction
1. Wordsworth writing
2. 'Tintern Abbey' and the nature of writing
3. Writing theory
4. Inscription poems: impossible writing
5. Wordsworth's passion
6. Wordsworth unhinged
7. The writing cure
8. The history of William Wordsworth
Appendix on poetic dictation
Bibliography
Index.

Subject Areas: Literary studies: general [DSB]