William Wordsworth

1770 (Cockermouth, England) – 1950 (Rydal Mount)

Wordsworth met Coleridge in Somerset, developed a close and highly productive literary friendship, and moved nearby with his sister Dorothy. Coleridge also introduced Charles Lamb to him. Keats was introduced to his hero Wordsworth by a mutual friend, Haydon, in London, where other friends of Wordsworth’s included Godwin. Moving to the Lake District, Southey, Coleridge and de Quincey became close neighbours. The visiting Hazlitt’s unsubtle pursuit of local women left Wordsworth cold (Coleridge’s opium habit also caused him to distance himself). Haydon painted a romantic portrait of Wordsworth on Helvellyn.