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In 1798 a book of poems appeared in London with no author’s name on the title page. It opened with Coleridge’s “The Rime of the Ancyent Marinere”, included Wordsworth’s “Tintern Abbey” and “We Are Seven”, and told readers that most of its poems were “experiments”. Reviews and sales were poor. That book, Lyrical Ballads, is now seen as the start of English Romanticism. Its co-author, William Wordsworth, born in Cockermouth in 1770, spent the rest of his life revising a long poem about his own mind that he never gave a title; his widow Mary named it The Prelude, and it was published three months after his death in 1850. This guide covers his six key books, in order, and where to begin.
By Lisanne Swart · 6 key books · 1798–1850 · Updated October 2026
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Quick answer
William Wordsworth’s best-known books are Lyrical Ballads (1798), written with Samuel Taylor Coleridge, its two-volume second edition with his Preface (1800), Poems, in Two Volumes (1807), with “I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud”, and The Prelude (1850). Start with Lyrical Ballads; read on for which version of The Prelude to choose.
Where to Start with William Wordsworth
If you want the book that started English Romanticism
→ Lyrical Ballads (1798) — the 1798 volume he wrote with Coleridge.
If you want his best-known short poems
→ Poems, in Two Volumes (1807) — the daffodils, Westminster Bridge and the Immortality Ode.
If you want his ideas about poetry
→ Lyrical Ballads (1800) — the edition with the Preface.
If you want his life in verse
→ The Prelude (1850) — the autobiographical poem he revised for half a century.
6 William Wordsworth Books, in Order
Lyrical Ballads
Published anonymously, with the imprint “London: Printed for J. & A. Arch, 1798”. It opens with Coleridge’s “The Rime of the Ancyent Marinere, in seven parts” and included Wordsworth’s “Tintern Abbey” and “We Are Seven”. Its Advertisement says that “the majority of the following poems are to be considered as experiments”. Early reviews and sales were poor; Wordsworth himself singled out the Mariner for criticism.
Lyrical Ballads
The second edition, published by Longman and Rees in two volumes, now with Wordsworth’s name on the title page. The first volume carries the first appearance of his Preface, in which he defined poetry as “the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings”; the second contains only new poems, all by Wordsworth. Coleridge’s poem, renamed “The Ancient Mariner, a Poet’s Reverie”, was moved to the end of the first volume, and the Preface refers to him only as a “Friend”. Wordsworth revised the book again for editions in 1802 and 1805.
Poems, in Two Volumes
Published by Longman, Hurst, Rees, and Orme. It contains many of his best-known short poems: “I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud”, “Ode: Intimations of Immortality”, “Resolution and Independence”, “My Heart Leaps Up”, “The Solitary Reaper” and the sonnets “Composed upon Westminster Bridge, September 3, 1802”, “London, 1802” and “The World Is Too Much with Us”. Contemporary reviews were poor; Byron dismissed it as “not simple, but puerile”.
The Excursion
A long poem, published as the second part of The Recluse, a larger work he never completed beyond this part. William Blake reacted so badly to a passage in it that he reportedly said it had given him a bowel complaint that nearly killed him.
The Borderers
A verse tragedy, written between 1795 and 1797, the years he lived at Racedown in Dorset and then Alfoxton in Somerset. It was rejected for the stage in 1797 and stayed unpublished for 45 years, until 1842, the year he received a Civil List pension.
The Prelude
An autobiographical poem in blank verse, begun in 1798 when he was 28 and addressed to Coleridge, meant as the introduction to The Recluse. It follows his childhood, his “Residence at Cambridge” and his time in Revolutionary France, and its final book opens with the climactic ascent of Snowdon. He never gave it a title; his widow Mary did, and it was published three months after his death. Three versions exist: the two-part poem of 1799, the 13-book text of 1805, first printed by Ernest de Sélincourt in 1926, and the 14-book text of 1850.
In What Order to Read William Wordsworth
Wordsworth’s great work is concentrated in the decade from 1798 to 1807: the two editions of Lyrical Ballads and Poems, in Two Volumes. Reading these in order shows the change from shared “experiments” with Coleridge to a poet confident enough to publish under his own name and explain his method in a Preface.
The Prelude belongs to the same years, even though it appeared last: a 13-book version existed by 1805. The 1805 text is closer to that period; the 1850 text is the version Wordsworth left behind after decades of revision. Read The Excursion after The Prelude, since both were meant to belong to The Recluse.
A reading path
1. Lyrical Ballads (1798)
2. Poems, in Two Volumes (1807)
3. Lyrical Ballads, second edition with the Preface (1800)
4. The Prelude (1805 or 1850 text)
5. The Excursion (1814)
Everything Else William Wordsworth Published
Beyond the 6 key books: 8 more, grouped by kind.
Open a group with the + to see every book in it.
Early poems
2
2 books · 1793
- 1793An Evening Walkan early poem
- 1793Descriptive Sketchesa poem published in the same year as An Evening Walk
Later editions of Lyrical Ballads
2
2 books · 1802–1805
- 1802Lyrical Ballads (third edition)revised again by Wordsworth
- 1805Lyrical Ballads (fourth edition)the fourth edition, again revised
Later poems and prose
4
4 books · 1810–1822
- 1810Guide to the Lakeshis guide to the Lake District
- 1815The White Doe of Rylstonea poem
- 1819Peter Bella poem
- 1822Ecclesiastical Sonnetsa sequence of sonnets
The years · 1770–1850
Quick facts about William Wordsworth
- Known for
- William Wordsworth is known as the English Romantic poet who, with Coleridge, launched English Romanticism in Lyrical Ballads (1798) and wrote about nature and memory in poems such as “Tintern Abbey” and The Prelude.
- 1770
- Born in Cockermouth, Cumberland
- 1798
- Lyrical Ballads
- 1813
- Moves to Rydal Mount; Distributor of Stamps
- 1843
- Becomes Poet Laureate
- 1850
- Dies at Rydal Mount; The Prelude published
- Born
- 7 April 1770, Cockermouth, Cumberland, in what is now Wordsworth House
- Died
- 23 April 1850, Rydal Mount, Westmorland, of pleurisy, aged 80; buried at St Oswald’s Church, Grasmere
- Education
- Hawkshead Grammar School from 1778; St John’s College, Cambridge, BA 1791
- Family
- Lived with his sister Dorothy; married Mary Hutchinson on 4 October 1802; five children
- Homes
- Racedown, Dorset (1795); Alfoxton, Somerset (1797); Dove Cottage, Grasmere (from late 1799); Rydal Mount (1813–1850)
- Posts
- Distributor of Stamps for Westmorland from 1813; Poet Laureate 1843–1850
The red mark is 1798: Lyrical Ballads, the book he published with Coleridge.
How William Wordsworth Writes: Experiments, Memory and Revision
Wordsworth presented his early poems as experiments. The 1798 Advertisement to Lyrical Ballads uses the word, and the Preface of 1800 defines poetry as “the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings”. “We Are Seven” and the sonnets of Poems, in Two Volumes show the range, from the plain to the formal.
His great subject is his own mind and the places that shaped it. “Tintern Abbey” and the Immortality Ode return to earlier experiences of nature; The Prelude turns the same habit into a long poem, from childhood through Cambridge and France to the ascent of Snowdon, addressed to Coleridge.
He revised constantly. Lyrical Ballads went through four editions between 1798 and 1805, and The Prelude survives in versions from 1799, 1805 and 1850. Critics have argued that his work declined from the mid-1810s, which is why most readers concentrate on the poems written before 1807 and on the 1805 Prelude.
Frequently asked questions about William Wordsworth’s books
How many books has William Wordsworth written?
He published many volumes of poetry over more than fifty years. This page lists six key books, from Lyrical Ballads (1798) to The Prelude (1850), and eight further titles and editions in the bibliography, from An Evening Walk (1793) to Ecclesiastical Sonnets (1822).
What are William Wordsworth’s books in order?
Lyrical Ballads (1798, with Coleridge), its second edition in two volumes with the Preface (1800), Poems, in Two Volumes (1807), The Excursion (1814), The Borderers (1842) and The Prelude (1850). Before them came An Evening Walk and Descriptive Sketches (both 1793).
Where should I start with William Wordsworth?
With Lyrical Ballads (1798), the book that began English Romanticism, then Poems, in Two Volumes (1807) for his best-known short poems. Move on to The Prelude once you know the shorter work.
What is William Wordsworth’s most famous book?
Lyrical Ballads (1798), written with Coleridge, is his most influential book, and The Prelude (1850) is usually considered his masterpiece. His most famous single poem, “I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud”, often called “The Daffodils”, first appeared in Poems, in Two Volumes (1807).
Which version of The Prelude should I read?
There are three: the two-part poem of 1799, the 13-book text of 1805, first printed by Ernest de Sélincourt in 1926, and the 14-book text published after Wordsworth’s death in 1850. The 1805 text is closer to the years it describes; the 1850 text is his final revision.
Who was Annette Vallon?
A Frenchwoman Wordsworth met in 1791 during his stay in Revolutionary France. Their daughter Caroline was born in 1792. He returned to England in 1793, and the circumstances of his return have raised doubts about his declared wish to marry Annette. He visited them in 1802, the year he married Mary Hutchinson, and settled 30 pounds a year on Caroline when she married in 1816.
Were Wordsworth and Coleridge friends?
Yes, closely in the 1790s, when they wrote Lyrical Ballads together; The Prelude is addressed to Coleridge. They became estranged in 1810, partly over Coleridge’s opium addiction, and were fully reconciled by 1828, when they toured the Rhineland together.
Was Wordsworth Poet Laureate?
Yes, from 1843 until his death in 1850. He first refused because of his age, and accepted after the Prime Minister, Robert Peel, assured him that nothing would be required of him. He wrote no official verses.
Where did Wordsworth live?
He was born in Cockermouth, lived at Racedown in Dorset and Alfoxton in Somerset in the 1790s, spent the winter of 1798–99 in Goslar, Germany, and settled at Dove Cottage, Grasmere, in late 1799. From 1813 until his death he lived at Rydal Mount near Ambleside. He is buried at St Oswald’s Church, Grasmere.
Footnotes
- William Wordsworth — Wikipedia
- The Prelude — Wikipedia
- Poems, in Two Volumes — Wikipedia
- Lyrical Ballads — Wikipedia
- Lyrical Ballads — University of Chicago Library
Bibliography last verified 9 October 2026. Where sources give different first-publication years, this page uses the year in library catalogues or the publisher’s own record.
This list was not put together by a machine.
The notes are all mine,
and the books are all his.
Lisanne x
Written by Lisanne Swart, who has curated reading lists and author guides at lisanneswart.com since 2021.
See more on her personal bookshelf.
“the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings”
— William Wordsworth, Preface to Lyrical Ballads (1800), on what good poetry is
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