The Five–Book Prelude

The Five–Book Prelude of March 1804 is the great work of Wordsworth′s poetic maturity. Edited now for the first time by Duncan Wu from the original manuscripts at Dove Cottage, it contains some of the finest passages of poetry later to appear in the thirteen–book poem of 1804–5 – the spots of time, the Winander boy, the discharged soldier, recollections of Cambridge, the infant prodigy, and the climbing of Snowdon. At once less discursive than the thirteen– and fourteen–book versions, but with more of the great poetry than the 1799 two–part poem, the Five–Book Prelude provides students and general readers alike with an approachable introduction to Wordsworth′s greatest work. For many it is likely to become the "Prelude" of choice.

Acknowledgements. Abbreviations. Introduction. Further Reading. Chronology. Five–Book Prelude Annotated Text. Recent Critical Commentary. Appendix I: The Analogy Passage. Appendix II: The Schedule of Manuscripts. Index.

Duncan Wu is Reader in English Literature at Glasgow University. He has edited Blackwell′s Romanticism: An Anthology (1994) and Romanticism: A Critical Reader (1995). His Romantic Women Poets: An Anthology was published by Blackwell in 1997. He is also editor of the Blackwell Companion to Romanticism.

"We see the embryo but not the complete birth, and it is thoroughly useful to have this version in readable form. Reprinted after the text are four useful modern critical essays; the ′analogy passage′ which appears in MS W after Snowdon but not in Dr Wu′s or any other editorial text; then, most useful, a schedule indicating the precise sources of Dr Wu′s text; a very full index." S. J. Harrison, Corpus Christi College, Oxford.