Richard Matlak: Wordsworth's trauma and poetry [Book Review]

Lloyd, Jacob 2025. Richard Matlak: Wordsworth's trauma and poetry [Book Review]. The Wordsworth Circle Item availability restricted.

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Abstract

Wordsworth’s Trauma and Poetry: 1793-1803 is built on the premise that Wordsworth’s description of a personal crisis in Book XI of The Prelude is the record of a genuine experience. Rather than assuming that Wordsworth’s account is a poetic invention intended to illustrate a symbolic, not a literal, truth, Richard Matlak proposes “taking the poet at his word” (2). Similarly, Wordsworth’s depiction, in Book X, of nightmares in Paris and for years afterwards is judged to “bespeak a unique experience and its psychological aftermath, rather than a distant empathy for the thousands who died in the Terror, which so many others might feel.” (3) This book therefore approaches its topic with curiosity instead of skepticism. It is refreshing to see Romantic poetry once more considered as fundamentally sincere.

Item Type:	Article
Status:	In Press
Schools:	Schools > English, Communication and Philosophy
Publisher:	University of Chicago Press
ISSN:	0043-8006
Date of First Compliant Deposit:	29 July 2025
Date of Acceptance:	15 June 2025
Last Modified:	31 Jul 2025 12:00
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/180097

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