Wordsworth's works between his departure from London on 10 July 1793 and the visit by Coleridge on 10 June 1797 are key documents in any discussion of the development of his poetry as they span the transition from Descriptive Sketches to Lyrical Ballads. Despite the key critical question of the originality of Lyrical Ballads, no exhaustive examination of Wordsworth's use of literary sources during this period has yet been undertaken. In this thesis a pattern of sources for each poem written during the period 1793-1797 is established, especially Wordsworth's developing use of his own verse as a source. There are many literary sources that had not previously been discovered, and this necessitated a reassessment of the role of sources in Wordsworth's poetry generally. In particular, the importance of certain eighteenth-century authors and ideologies had been underrated as influences on Wordsworth's poetry. An overview of Wordsworth's use of his sources shows significant changes during the period. In earlier poems they were incorporated into his poetry with little modification, but in later poems they were often radically transformed and complexly assimilated. Literary sources played a key role in the development of Wordsworth's works, critical theories, and world view. Finally, a brief examination of passages from The Prelude confirms the view that the importance of literary sources in Wordsworth's changing poetry and the workings of his poetic imagination was not confined to the period 1793-7.

In the introductory definition of spots of time, Wordsworth claims that these important childhood episodes are virtuous and worthy of celebration. This definition is incongruous with the episodes considered independently, because they reveal themselves as essentially disturbing memories. As he revised the spots of time, Wordsworth attempted to mitigate the disturbing nature of the episodes, betraying his need to repress certain undesireable aspects of the early texts. / The following study is a Freudian reading of Wordsworth's spots of time in their various stages of revision. The Introduction to this study addresses some of the problems of interpretation. Chapter One places a Freudian reading of Wordsworth within the context of previous scholarship. Chapter Two is a close reading of the earliest spots of time as informed by Oedipal memories. Chapter Three examines Wordsworth's attempt, through revision, to repress these Oedipal memories.

Thesis (Ph.D.) - University of St Andrews, July 2007. / Restricted until 25th June 2008.

Proefschrift--Amsterdam. / Bibliography: p. 170-174.

Thesis--University of Illinois. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references. Also issued in print.

Thesis (M.A.)--University of Hong Kong, 1991.

Thesis (M.A.)--University of Hong Kong, 1991. / Also available in print.

Introduction: This present essay is an analysis of the place of man and nature in [Wordsworth's] poetry ... I have been concerned essentially with trying to discover how Wordsworth used his two most prominent poetic subjects. I have attempted to trace Wordsworth's development from the poet of nature, to the poet of man, and finally to the poet of man and nature. What I have hoped would emerge from this essay is an understanding of Wordsworth's relationship with nature and his attitude to it in the poems. I have attempted to stress that man and humanity were not always important to Wordsworth as a poet, and that their importance does not eventually equal that of nature. For by 1807 man, the mind of man and humanity in general are very much more important and much more vital as poetic subjects than is nature. I have tried to show that Wordsworth was at different times a poet of landscape descriptions, a poet interested only in man and humanity, and finally a poet interested in man within nature.

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