Our Cheerful Faith

Let neither evil tongues,

Rash judges, nor the sneers of selfish men,

Nor greetings where no kindness is, nor all

The dreary intercourse of daily life

Prevail against our spirit, or disturb

Our cheerful faith that all which we behold

Is full of blessing.

Wordsworth[1]

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[1] William Wordsworth was born at Cockermouth, in the Lake District of England, in 1770. His boyhood was full of adventure among the hills, and he says of himself that he showed “a stiff, moody, and violent temper.” He lost his mother when he was 8 and his father at age 13. With the help of his uncles, he and his siblings were well educated and started in life. In 1787 went to St. John’s College, Cambridge, where he graduated B.A. in 1791. William’s uncles wanted him to enter the Church, but to this he was averse; indeed, his dislike for any regular employment offended his uncles. The beginning of his friendship with Coleridge in 1795 comfirmed in him his resolution to devote himself to poetry; and a legacy of £900 from a friend allowed him to do it, at least temporarily.

He settled with his sister Dorothy at Racedown, Dorsetshire, and shortly afterwards removed to Alfoxden, to be near Coleridge. In time, the two poets planned a joint work, Lyrical Ballads, to which Coleridge contributed The Ancient Mariner, and Wordsworth, among other pieces, Tintern Abbey. Published in 1798, it was well received and provided income to allow him to travel. He, Coleridge and Dorothy went to Germany for a year, where he began The Prelude, a poem focusing on Wordsworth’s own mind. He would return to this work regularly over the years, revising it as he felt necessary. Returning from Germany, he settled with Dorothy at Grasmere. Two years later Wordsworth’s circumstances enabled him to marry his cousin, Mary Hutchinson, to whom he had been long attached.  

In 1813 Wordsworth migrated to Rydal Mount, his home for the rest of his life; there a benefactor helped him be appointed Distributor of Stamps for Westmoreland, with a salary of £400. He had now come to his own, and was regarded by the great majority of the lovers of poetry as, notwithstanding certain limitations and flaws, a truly great and original poet. In 1843, he succeeded Southey as England’s Poet Laureate. His long, tranquil, and fruitful life ended in 1850. He lies buried in the churchyard of Grasmere. (Source: Poet Seers – poetseers.org)