Jonathan Wordsworth author page

Jonathan Wordsworth biography

Jonathan Wordsworth was a British academic and literary critic, recognised for his scholarship on English Romantic poetry. He was born on 28 November 1932 in London and died on 21 June 2006.

A great-great-great-nephew of the poet William Wordsworth, he studied at Westminster School and then at Brasenose College, Oxford, where he read English. He later became a Fellow of St Catherine’s College, Oxford, and subsequently held a professorship as Winterstoke Professor of English Literature at the University of Oxford.

His academic specialism was Romantic literature, particularly the poetry of William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge. Among his works are William Wordsworth: The Borders of Vision (1982), The Music of Humanity (1969) and Visionary Gleam (1969).

Beyond university teaching, Jonathan Wordsworth served as chairman and later president of the Wordsworth Trust, Grasmere, playing a central role in preserving and promoting the poet’s legacy and Dove Cottage as a literary heritage site.

He also edited numerous editions of Romantic texts, contributing introductions and commentaries that became standard reference points for students and scholars.

Jonathan Wordsworth died in 2006 at the age of 73.