According to this view, he retreated from a poetry of protest aimed at affecting material change in society (such as the eradication of poverty) to an interiorized poetry of nature and the imagination. 3As a consequence of this influence and a growing disillusionment with the course of the French Revolution, they argue, Words-worth largely abandoned his desire for radical change in English society. Within the past ten or fifteen years, however, a number of New Historicist critics have contended that as early as 1796 with The Borderers and certainly by the 1798 edition of Lyrical Ballads Wordsworth had been significantly influenced by the doctrines of Burke. 2According to this view, only after he had written his finest poetry did Wordsworth switch to the conservative side. Until recently, the prevailing view has been that while Wordsworth became disenchanted with his earlier radicalism, he did not default on the liberal principles and in fact remained a committed liberal throughout his “great decade” (1798–1808). What has been much debated in Wordsworth criticism is exactly when this shift occurred. We know, moreover, from his retrospective account in The Prelude that he had hoped the principles animating the revolution would extend beyond France to England and indeed to “the whole Earth.” 1Nor can there be any doubt that, from about 1812 on, Wordsworth sympathized with the Tory cause and had become deeply influenced by the teachings of Edmund Burke. There can be no doubt that William Wordsworth (1770–1850) in his youth ardently supported the French Revolution.
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