Joseph Wright of Derby (1734-1797). Derwent Water, with Skiddaw in the Distance, 1795-96. Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection.

            Wisdom and Spirit of the universe! 
Thou Soul that art the eternity of thought! 
That giv’st to forms and images a breath 
And everlasting motion! not in vain, 
By day or star-light thus from my first dawn 
Of Childhood didst Thou intertwine for me 
The passions that build up our human Soul, 
Not with the mean and vulgar works of Man, 
But with high objects, with enduring things, 
With life and nature…
[1.428-437]

John Warwick Smith (1749-1831). Village of Stonethwaite and Eagle Cragg, Borrowdale, 1792 (detail). Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection.

J.M.W. Turner (1775-1851). Glacier and Source of the Arveiron, Chamonix, 1803. Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection.

                                       That day we first
Beheld the summit of Mont Blanc, and grieved
To have a soulless image on the eye
Which had usurped upon a living thought
That never more could be: the wondrous Vale
Of Chamouny did on the following dawn,
With its dumb cataracts and streams of ice,
A motionless array of mighty waves,
Five rivers broad and vast, make rich amends,
And reconciled us to realities.
[6.452-461]

At last we have a worthwhile counterpart to one of the timeless monuments of English verse.

Brad Leithauser, Wall Street Journal

A glorious new edition

Professor Helen Vendler, New York Review of Books

A marvelous book — the great poem magnificently illustrated with 130 full-color paintings, drawing, maps and other visual aids contemporaneous with its writing.

Lloyd Schwartz, WBUR & NPR’s The ARTery

Set in a handsome, hardbound edition that equally fits in a coffee table display or upon a scholar’s desk, this new edition is appropriate for the amateur and expert alike…There are no faults to be had with this book. It is aesthetically pleasing, intellectually rigorous, and completely satisfying. 

The News and Times

One of the great masterpieces of British literature with illustrations that enhance the poem beautifully.

 Edward Howser

A really handsome volume, especially remarkable at this affordable price. The book is brilliantly edited and introduced, beautifully printed and illustrated.

Patrick J. Keane

A beautiful book that makes the poem accessible to the common reader. Now we can see the sights that inspired Wordsworth’s poetry.

CJR