This book explores the role of William Wordsworth in Western literary tradition by essays outstanding in their range, diversity, and excellence. They reveal two aspects of the great romantic-the simple, elemental, forthright poet and the complex, paradoxical problematic poet -through examinations of his poetic qualities, discussions of individual poems, and analyses of particularly significant short passages. Selected by the distinguished scholar and critic M. H. Abrams, these essays, together with treatments of the overall design of Wordsworth's longer works, make this a uniquely comprehensive overview of the recent approaches to the major poets in the English languages.