The age Wordsworth lived in was dramatic and formative: the war with Napoleon (lasting 22 years), together with Britain's emergence as first a colonial and then an imperial power, led to a radical re-thinking of Britain's relationship to Europe (with Wordsworth as a vociferous anti-European) that somehow survived intact for two centuries. In my book, I don't avoid any of these, as I believe they help us to relate to an artist who otherwise might appear aloof and distant, and who has long been considered an unshakeable pillar of the cultural establishment.Д®ach theme - Wordsworth's sense of Englishness his thinking about childhood his attitude towards writing as a profession, and so on - is set in a historical context extending through the 19th century, and at times up to the present day.

The choices he had to make were often difficult and while the emphasis nowadays is invariably on his achievement as a poet, he would also have been aware of the failures, disappointments, compromises and contradictions that scarred his career. This is why, after years of exploring the labyrinth of Wordsworth's life and career, I decided to ignore the guidelines that the middle-aged poet set out for understanding his youth, and instead, by imagining myself in his position whenever possible, have tried to establish an unvarnished and coherent image of the man. To counter this reticence, I make considerable use of Dorothy's Grasmere Journals, which, apart from their own intrinsic interest, are invaluable in throwing light on her relationship with her brother, and create an exciting counterpoint between her vision and his. A form of self-censorship on his part has made it difficult for both biographers and scholars to get close to the man and his work, and as a result we are almost always offered the same comfortable and rather bland image of the poet. Wordsworth was evasive, or retreated into silence, when faced with subjects - such as his relationships with women - that he had difficulty in being open and honest about. Wordsworth's intense and complex relationship with his sister Dorothy, who lived with him and accompanied him in his work for over 50 years, has proved to be another formidable challenge to anyone wanting to understand his life. His greatest poem remained a well-kept secret until his death 45 years later. In 'The Prelude' he sidelined the love affair and its consequences (which in my opinion were profound and long-lasting) and then went a stage further by deciding not to publish 'The Prelude' after finishing it in 1805. In particular, he played down the significance of the year spent in France during the Revolution, when he fell in love with a French woman and fathered a child with her. In the second half of his life Wordsworth spent a good deal of time and effort editing and rearranging the story of his youth, so as to create an image of himself that he found suitable - rather than one that was completely honest, and this is one of the main subjects of the book.

While the structure respects the basic biographical principle of a story told chronologically, it is organised thematically. In Well-Kept Secrets: The Story of William Wordsworth (Pallas Athene Books), which I consider more of a portrait than a biography, I have tried to recreate this constant movement between outer and inner worlds - between what Wordsworth experienced and what he created - by shaping a narrative that moves between the poems and the life story, weaving the two together. However, as a practising artist I know that there is a vital dialectic between the life story of an artist and the work that he or she produces. Traditionally biographies of writers offer a straightforward narrative of the author's life, with reference now and again to the texts, prose or poetry.

Wordsworth was the first major poet to write in a way that was explicitly autobiographical, and for this reason alone biographies of him are important, as they offer a direct help to understanding and appreciating his work. Here, he introduces his biography, Well Kept Secrets, published to mark the 250th anniversary of Wordsworth's birth Figurative artist Andrew Wordsworth, a direct descendant of the great poet, has been studying the work of William Wordsworth for several decades.

Wordsworth outer story