William Wordsworth

More than any other poet, Wordsworth was his own biographer, telling his story through his verse. This work on his life and times, first published in 1980, remains the only full-length popular biography. It draws on the letters and diaries of Wordsworth and his sister Dorothy, and of their contemporaries Coleridge and Southey. Author Hunter Davies also taps his own knowledge of the Lake District, which featured so strongly in Wordsworth life, to present a complete portrait of England's best-known poet.