Wordsworth and the Victorians

Of the works describing Wordsworthian influence, pre-eminent was Stephen Gill's cultured and pleasurable Wordsworth and the Victorians, which effectively recreates a lost Wordsworth: the Victorian man of letters and laureate, spiritual teacher and sage for an anxiously secularizing age ... Gill has gathered from remote corners an immense amount of material ... all of which Gill views with an exemplary historical sympathy, not untouched by a spry sense of the absurd or paradoxical. * The Year's Work in English Studies, Vol. 79 *
Stephen Gill's fair and keen interpretation of Wordsworth's significance is a fitting tribute to a poet whose importance has not waned. * Marcy Tanter *
Stephen Gill has a keen eye for pulling out relevant details and presenting them in an obvious yet astute manner. * Marcy Tanter *
Stephen Gill is well-qualified to make assessments of Wordsworth and the Victorians, and this particular work is much-needed, especially as reconsiderations of the Victorian era will be de rigeur as the twentieth century is dissected by the twenty-first ... Gill's careful and pointed delineation of the Victorians' responses to and admiration of Wordsworth allows us a clear picture of how the Laureate influenced the tastes and movivations of such noteworthies as Gaskell, Eliot, Arnold, and Tennyson. * Marcy Tanter *
Stephen Gill's Wordsworth and the Victorians is a major addition to that first rank of important books on the poet. * John L. Mahoney, SiR, 39, summer 2000 *
Gill's high standard prevails again in his new volume Wordsworth and the Victorians * John L. Mahoney, SiR, 39, Summer 2000 *
Stephen Gill has produced a scholarly and readable exploration of Wordsworth's presence and influence in the Victorian age, a book that gathers much that was known indetail, yet which is entirely original in its grasp of the century's sweep and of detail, of cultural history, and of literary criticism. * Angus Easson, University of Salford, Romanticism *
the individual testimony that demonstrates Gill's range and energy, even while it authenticates his study, provides frequent comedy, and promotes the wit that enlivens and illuminates this study. Again and again, Gill enables an anecdote or incident not merely to throw light through a chink but to be, through his skill, patience and intelligence, the spark that floods with light an idea or relationship or activity. * Angus Easson, University of Salford, Romanticism *
Within its deceptively slim compass (it sits comfortably in the hand) Gill's book is an outstanding work of cultural history and of literary criticism, of scholarship, of wit, and of understanding. * Angus Easson, University of Salford, Romanticism *
the construction of "Wordsworth", was the work of thousands of anonymous and devoted craftsmen, guided by a preconceived design. Gill's account of this process is absorbing and superbly detailed ... A poet's most fitting memorial is our continued passionate engagement with his poetry: Stephen Gill's stimulating book is nourished by just such an engagement. * Daniel Karlin, Times Literary Supplement *