| Lloyd, Jacob 2025. Richard Matlak: Wordsworth's trauma and poetry [Book Review]. The Wordsworth Circle 56 (3) , pp. 271-276. 10.1086/739169 |
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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: | Short Communication |
|---|---|
| Date Type: | Publication |
| Status: | Published |
| 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 2026 01:45 |
| URI: | https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/180097 |
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