D.C.L. from Durham, and in 1839 the same from Oxf. Three years later he
resigned his office of Distributor of Stamps in favour of his _s._, and
received a civil list pension of L300. The following year, 1843, he
succeeded Southey as Poet Laureate. His long, tranquil, and fruitful life
ended in 1850. He lies buried in the churchyard of Grasmere. After his
death the _Prelude_, finished in 1805, was _pub._ It had been kept back
because the great projected poem of which it was to have been the
preface, and of which _The Excursion_ is a part, was never completed.

The work of W. is singularly unequal. When at his best, as in the
"Intimations of Immortality," "Laodamia," some passages in _The
Excursion_, and some of his short pieces, and especially his sonnets, he
rises to heights of noble inspiration and splendour of language rarely
equalled by any of our poets. But it required his poetic fire to be at
fusing point to enable him to burst through his natural tendency to
prolixity and even dulness. His extraordinary lack of humour and the,
perhaps consequent, imperfect power of self-criticism by which it was
accompanied, together with the theory of poetic theme and diction with
which he hampered himself, led him into a frequent choice of trivial
subjects and childish language which excited not unjust ridicule, and
long delayed the general recognition of his genius. He has a marvellous
felicity of phrase, an unrivalled power of describing natural appearances
and effects, and the most ennobling views of life and duty. But his great
distinguishing characteristic is his sense of the mystic relations
between man and nature. His influence on contemporary and succeeding
thought and literature has been profound and lasting. It should be added
that W., like Milton, with whom he had many points in common, was the
master of a noble and expressive prose style.

SUMMARY.--_B._ 1770, _ed._ at Camb., sympathiser with French Revolution
in earlier stages, first publication _Tour in the Alps_ and _Evening
Walk_ 1793, became acquainted with Coleridge 1795, _pub._ with him
_Lyrical Ballads_ 1798, visits Germany and begins _Prelude_, returns to
England and settles at Grasmere, _pub._ second ed. of _Lyrical Ballads_,
entirely his own, 1800, _m._ Mary Hutchinson 1802, visits Scotland 1804
and becomes acquainted with Scott, _pub._ _Poems in Two Volumes_ 1807,
goes to Rydal Mount 1813, appointed Distributor of Stamps, revisits
Scotland, writes _Yarr