"Images of other worlds" : structure and vision in Wordsworth's Descriptive sketches (1793)

Abstract

Wordsworth's Descriptive Sketches (1793) is an early, exploratory poetical autobiography written when he was beginning the quest for his true poetic vocation. By examining the poet's reordering of the events of his 1790 Alpine tour, which the poem commemorates, and by analysing the modifications Wordsworth makes to his chosen genre, this thesis shows how Descriptive Sketches maps the travels of a youthful mind in its imaginative and spiritual journey to find a unique poetic persona and voice. Wordsworth's use of the narrative structure of the journey and his modifications to the genre of loco-descriptive poetry are shown to be closely intertwined with his transformation of, and movement from, his eighteenth-century literary origins in order to achieve the imaginative and intellectual autonomy characteristic of such later works as "Tintern Abbey" and The Prelude.