Journals of Dorothy Wordsworth, 1897

Dorothy Wordsworth filled multiple notebooks with beautifully detailed observations. These journals inspired much of her brother William’s poetry, most notably “I Wander’d Lonely as a Cloud,” and were published after her death. This volume in particular focuses on her time in Alfoxden, England; Hamburg, Germany; Grasmere, England; and Scotland.

 

This edition of Dorothy’s journals–the first ever published–is no longer favored by scholars, since the compiler heavily edited personal details in the journals and chose to omit some of the more mundane parts of Dorothy’s life. Its content, however, is authentic, despite being somewhat incomplete, and it led the way for greater appreciation of Dorothy’s prose.