This book is the first to present Wordsworth's greatest poem in all three of its separate forms. It reprints, on facing pages, the version of The Prelude that was completed in 1805, together with the much-revised work published after the poet's death in 1850. In addition the editors include the two-part version of the poem, composed 1798-99. Each of these poems has its distinctive qualities and values; to read them together provides an incomparable chance to observe a great poet composing and recomposing, through a long life, his major work.

Preface

Events of Wordsworth's Life

Abbreviations

The Prelude

 The Two-Part Prelude of 1799

 The Prelude of 18o5 in Thirteen Books

 The Prelude of 185o in Fourteen Books

 MS. Drafts and Fragments, 1798-18o4

  1. The Beginnings of The Prelude: 1799 Drafts

   and Related Materials in MS. JJ, October 1798

  2. Fragments from Peter Bell. MS. 2, ca.

   February 1799

  3. Draft Material from the Five-Book Prelude in

   MS. W, February 18o4

  4. Rejected Drafts for 18o5, Book VIII, in

   MS. Y, October 18o4

 Manuscripts of The Prelude, 1798-185~

 The Texts: History and Presentation

  General Editorial Procedures

  Composition and Texts: The Two-Part

    Prelude of 1799

  Composition and Texts: The Prelude of

    18o5 and 185o

Context and Reception

 References to The Prelude in Process: 1799-x85o

 The Early Reception

  Samuel Taylor Coleridge·To William

    Wordsworth

  Thomas De Quincey·\\Villiam Wordsworth

  From the Eclectic Review

 From Tait's Edinburgh Magazine

 From the Gentleman's Magazine

  From Graham's Magazine

  From the British Quarterly Review

  From the Dublin University Magazine

  From the Examiner

  Henry Crabb Robinson

  Frederick Denison Maurice

  Thomas Babington Macaulay

  Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

  Ralph Waldo Emerson

  Matthew Arnold

  A. C. Bradley

Recent Critical Essays

 Jonathan Wordsworth·The Two-Part Prelude

  of 1799

 M. H. Abrams·The Design of The Prelude:

  Wordsworth's Long Journey Home

 Geoffrey H. Hartman·A Poet's Progress:

  Wordsworth and the Via Naturaliter Negativa

 Richard J. Onorato·The Prelude: Metaphors of

  Beginning and Where They Lead

 William Empson·Sense in The Prelude

 Herbert Lindenberger·Images of Interaction in

  The Prelude

 W. B. Gallie·Is The Prelude a Philosophical Poem?

Bibliography of Works Cited and Consulted

Selected Reading