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The English poet William Wordsworth was born in Cockermouth Cumberland. He was the second of five children. His father John Wordsworth was a lawyer and his mother died when he was a young boy only 8 years old. His father was unable to cope with all the children so he sent William and his two elder siblings to school. When His father died in 1783, the family was cared for by their uncles, who paid for William to go to Cambridge. Although he did not do very well applying himself at schoolwork, he did discover he had a love for writing and received a Bachelor's degree.

After leaving school William spent time in France, it was the time of the French Revolution and though he was fascinated by the ideals of the Revolution he returned to England. In 1795 he received a large sum of money from a friend who had died and wanted him to pursue his writng of poetry which William Wordsworth did.

Together with a friend named Coleridge they co-wrote and published Lyrical Ballads in 1798. Critics received the book uncertainly, and it was described as Poetry from the Lake school. In 1802, Wordsworth married Mary Hutchinson, a friend he knew from childhood and he and his wife and sister Dorothy all lived together in a little cottage. In 1807, William again published more of his poetry, a two volume set containing 113 poems which once more received very bad reviews from the critics which included Lord Byron. He found himself writing less poetry and doing more prose. His personal life suffered too, as he had lost his fourth child, his daughter Catherine died of convulsions and the death of his third child Thomas of pneumonia. The events brought his wife close to death with grief.

Wordswoth managed to get an appointment as Distributer of Stamps when he found his finances running low and a few years later he once more started writing his poetry. This time he was favoured with good reviews. In 1839 William Wordsworth finished The Prelude a poetical biography about his early life which was to be printed after his death. Also in this year the University of Oxford conferred on him its Honorary degree of D.C.L. William Wordsworth died in 1850 of pleurisy, but left behind him a legacy that brought about in its time the revival of English poetry.