The Prelude

“An outsize, gorgeous book, replete with paintings and drawings―landscapes, houses, portraits―contemporaneous with the poem. At last we have a worthy visual counterpart to one of the timeless monuments of English verse. Provides American readers with a sound sense not merely of where Wordsworth was but―through its lavish illustrations―what he found so rousing. The book clarifies how and why he became England’s best-loved nature poet.” * Wall Street Journal *
“A marvelous book―the great poem magnificently illustrated with 130 full-color paintings, drawing, maps and other visual aids contemporaneous with its writing.” * Lloyd Schwartz, WBUR & NPR’s The ARTery *
“With startled joy I encountered the glorious new edition of The Prelude by my Harvard colleague James Engell, working in collaboration with the independent scholar Michael D. Raymond (who sought out the invaluable illustrations). Handsomely produced in a broad horizontal format (twelve by nine and a half inches), the volume is illustrated on almost every other page by paintings or drawings contemporaneous with the poem itself. These offer to the American reader’s eye an array of scenes indispensable to an understanding of Wordsworth’s world―lakes, crags, nocturnes, ships at sea, the Alps, Stonehenge, Revolutionary France, Cambridge, London. At last―with Engell’s eloquent and succinct introduction, helpful marginal glosses, notes, a chronology, and maps―American readers and students have a Prelude of their own.” * Helen Vendler, New York Review of Books *
“Set in a handsome, hardbound edition that equally fits in a coffee table display or upon a scholar's desk, this new edition is appropriate for the amateur and expert alike. . . . There are no faults to be had with this book. It is aesthetically pleasing, intellectually rigorous, and completely satisfying.” * News and Times *