William Wordsworth (1770-1850) is one of the most important and enduringly popular of all the English poets. His unique relationship with the poet and political activist Samuel Taylor Coleridge founded in the political and social ferment of 1795 produced a revolution in literature resulting in the joint volume Lyrical Ballads (1798-1805)--a landmark in the history of English Romanticism. This selection chosen from the Oxford Authors critical edition includes all Wordsworth's finest lyrics and a large sample of The Prelude (1805) his extraordinary autobiographical poem in blank verse and the first truly great achievement of a new era in English poetry.