William Wordsworth was born on 7 April 1770 in Cockermouth. An English poet, Wordsworth was a founder of the Romantic movement in English literature. With Samuel Taylor Coleridge he published Lyrical Ballads, whose preface argued that poetry should use the language of ordinary people and draw on feelings stirred by nature. His works include Tintern Abbey, the Ode: Intimations of Immortality and the long autobiographical poem The Prelude, as well as poems such as I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud. He lived for much of his life in the Lake District with his sister Dorothy, whose journals influenced him, and he became Poet Laureate in 1843.
Before and after
- 15 August 1769Birth of Napoleon
- 14 September 1769Birth of Alexander von Humboldt
- 13 December 1769Founding of Dartmouth College
- 5 March 1770Boston Massacre
- 7 April 1770Birth of William Wordsworth
- 27 August 1770Birth of Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel
- 16 December 1770Birth of Ludwig van Beethoven
- 1771Construction of Vatican Museums
- 1771Discovery of oxygen
More in Art, literature & culture
- 5 May 1821Founding of The Guardian
- 7 April 1837Publication of The Little Mermaid
- 21 February 1848Publication of The Communist Manifesto
- 18 September 1851Founding of The New York Times
- c. 1860sImpressionism
- 19 March 1882Construction of Basilica and Expiatory Church of the Holy Family
The era
This moment belongs to the Industrial era (1760 CE to 1914 CE), steam, factories and revolutions. You can also browse everything in the 18th century.