Though marred by occasional
affectation, the sketches of Willis are light, graceful compositions,
but the artificiality of his poems have caused them to be neglected.
He died at Idlewild, New York, January 20th, 1867.
WORDSWORTH, WILLIAM.--An illustrious English poet, born at Cockermouth,
Cumberland, April 7th, 1770. He studied at Cambridge and took his B. A.
degree in 1791. In 1793 (after a residence for a short time in France) he
produced his first verses, entitled An Evening Walk. In 1798, a small
volume entitled _Lyrical Ballads_, was published in conjunction with
ST. Coleridge, but was not a success. In 1800, he settled in Grasmere,
Westmoreland, where also resided Southey, Coleridge, de Quincy, and Wilson,
to whom the critics applied the term "Lake School." In 1813 he removed to
Rydal Mount, where he published _The Excursion_ in 1814, _The White
Doe of Rylston, Peter Bell, The Waggoner, The Prelude_, etc. In 1843 he
was appointed to succeed Southey as poet-laureate. He is undoubtedly a poet
of the first rank.
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