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The purpose of this thesis is to discuss Wordsworth's evolving nature project, particularly during the Regency, when his sonnet collection The River Duddon offered an alternative view of nature to that found in the works of Byron and Shelley. This thesis argues that The River Duddon deserves renewed critical attention not only because of the acclaim it received at its publication in 1820, but also because it marks yet another turn in Wordsworth's evolving nature project, and one that comes in opposition to the depiction of nature given during the Regency by Byron, and Shelley. Wordsworth's portrayal of nature dramatically changed throughout his lifetime. The first chapter deals with the poet's shifting notions of nature up until 1810. Most of the poems discussed here come from Lyrical Ballads, the key collection of Wordsworth's early years. In particular, I suggest that "Tintern Abbey" can be read as a hypothesis wherein Wordsworth reconciles the doubt regarding nature he expressed in earlier poems such as "The Female Vagrant" and "The Thorn." While Wordsworth continued to express doubt in poems such as "Two April Mornings," "The Fountain," and "Michael," he expressed an appreciation for nature in relation to God in "Ode: Intimations on Immortality." On the eve of the Regency, however, he returned to doubting nature's benevolence in "Peele Castle." The second chapter deals with the Regency, looking at the development of Wordsworth's reputation and the emergence of Byron and Shelley's so-called "Satanic School" of poetry. Wordsworth's career during this time was marked by mixed criticism, as evidenced by The Excursion and Peter Bell. At this same time, his Romantic philosophies of nature were being challenged by the more liberal views set forth by Byron and Shelley. This chapter looks specifically at Byron's Don Juan and "Darkness" and Shelley's Alastor and "Mont Blanc" in order to contrast Wordsworth's nature project with that of the "Satanic School." My final chapter turns to Wordsworth's final Regency-era publication, The River Duddon. Here I argue that, while this is one of the poet's lesser-known works, The River Duddon marks a significant new phase in the Romantic conversation concerning nature and is thus worthy of more extensive study. Not only does this poem portray a more confident trust in nature than previously seen in Lyrical Ballads, but it also serves to juxtapose the depiction of nature presented by the "Satanic School" during the Regency. To highlight differences between the projects of Wordsworth and the "Satanic School," I conclude with a comparison of The River Duddon with Byron's "Darkness" and Shelley's "Mont Blanc."

Despite its impact in generating a more positive reception toward Wordsworth's work among his contemporaries, The River Duddon volume has received comparatively little critical attention in recent scholarship. On some level, this is unsurprising given the relative unpopularity of Wordsworth's later work among modern readers, but I believe that the relative shortage of critical scholarship on The River Duddon is due, at least in part, to a symptomatic failure to read the volume in its entirety. This essay takes up the challenge of following Wordsworth's directive to read The River Duddon volume as a unified whole. While I cannot account for every inclusion, I set out to explore how the idea of collection functions as the unifying force governing the volume's organizational and thematic structure. I argue that although the individual pieces that make up the collection are distinct from each other in their style, subject matter, and date of composition, together they constitute an exploration of the beauty of Wordsworth's native region and his interest in harmonizing aesthetic principles of variety and unity. When read as parts of a dialogical exchange rather than as self-contained units, the individual texts in The River Duddon collectively present an array of perspectives through which Wordsworth not only celebrates the rich diversity of the Lake District's local customs and landscapes, but also theorize a sophisticated poetics of collection which he hoped would help justify his poetic program and reinforce the literary and cultural weight of his future work.