第4章 Introduction

William Wordsworth maintained a lifelong interest in education,an interest that finds expression in his poetry and prose,major and minor works,private letters and public statements.A mongst his juvenilia is a poem in praise of“The Power of EDUCATION”（PWⅠ：259）composed in 1784-1785 when he was a young student at Hawkshead Gram mar School.When he heard the literary coterie's disparaging remarks about his Poems,in Two Volumes（1807），Wordsworth declared in a letter to his friend and patron,Sir George Beaumont,that“Every Great poet is a Teacher:I wish either to be considered as a Teacher,or as nothing”（MYⅠ：195）.The poet's only known public speech,occasioned by the building of a new village school in Windermere in 1836，is an earnest appeal for a renewed understanding of the term“education”（ProseⅢ：295）.Towards the end of his life,Wordsworth continued to revise earlier writings and compose new poems about various aspects of education.【1】

Wordsworth's engagement with education is both practical and poetic.He shows a pragmatic interest in education in that many of his poems deal with practical matters in pedagogy,such as how a child ought to be taught and which teaching methods should be employed or avoided.He also demonstrates a highly poetic educational concern because he endeavours to improve the general public's intellectual and moral faculties through the reciprocal actions of poetry writing and poetry reading.The two aspects are united when his poetic treatment of children's education serves to teach the adult readers a lesson of effective teaching and learning,and when his poems become teaching materials in educational institutions.In most cases,however,Wordsworth deals with education in the abstract and poetic sense,and the adult readers are not always aware of their being the target subject of education.

The poetic and practical aspects of Wordsworth as a teacher,though united in his poetry writing,are divided in nineteenth century readers'reading experiences.It is in the poetic sense that Wordsworth uttered the wish to be regarded as a teacher,as he wanted to“create the taste by which he is to be relished”and“teach the art by which he is to be seen”（MYⅠ：150）.However,the public's reception of him as a teacher tends to verge on the practical side.In his middle and later years,Wordsworth was frequently consulted on practical matters of education,first by friends and admirers,and then by important members of the Anglican Church and the state.Meanwhile,his poems infused with subtle messages of poetic education were not well received by the reading public he intended to teach.From the 1830s to the 1890s,selections of his poems were edited for pedagogical uses inside and outside of classrooms by Victorian educators of various levels.However,only a few editors recognised the poet's educational value in the way Wordsworth desired.

The discrepancy between the poet's conception and the public's perception of him as a teacher during the nineteenth century is illustrated by the two epigraphs preceding this Introduction.W hilst Wordsworth felt himself wronged by contemporary readers who failed to appreciate his educative value,the Victorian critic Swinburne,in an elaborate effort to correct what he believed was wrong in Wordsworth's claim,ironically proved the poet right.They agree in essence that a poet can be a teacher whereas a teacher is not necessarily a poet,and that the educative authority of a poet arises from his poetic achievement rather than his moral obligation.Wordsworth anticipated the difficulty of being recognised as a great poet,and therefore a teacher;Swinburne's distinction between the logical premises of the two identities explained what lay behind the difficulty for many nineteenth-century readers.Although Wordsworth has become a household name in Britain over the past two hundred years,his wish to be regarded as a teacher remains to be justified and fulfilled among new generations of readers.It is time for renewed efforts to be made to study Wordsworth's wish and affirm his relevance.

This book seeks to revisit Wordsworth's practical and poetic engagement with education as epitomised in the claim that becomes the first epigraph.By situating this claim in the larger context of the Wordsworthian canon and Britain's educational reforms and reading practices from the late eighteenth century to the end of the nineteenth century,I argue that Wordsworth advocated a poetic education of receptive and creative imagination as a corrective to practical education and passive reading,and that his authority as a teacher was confirmed rather than challenged by the wide divergence of his reception.

Although this book focuses on Wordsworth and nineteenth-century Britain,the investigation itself is motivated by what I consider the indifference,scepticism or reductionism that characterise Wordsworth's reception in modern educational institutions across the Atlantic.Wordsworth's name has been firmly inscribed in the pantheon of English literature,but many literature teachers in American and British universities find it hard to preach a“Wordsworthian education”to contemporary undergraduate students.Outside of the English Department,Wordsworth's name is discursively invoked for empirical education,usually at the elementary level,to be challenged or upheld for its association with nature and childhood.Sometimes the two trends converge in that scholars with dual interests in literature and education tend to regard Wordsworth as a teacher when it comes to a child's relationship with nature.

In his repeated demands that readers should bestow much time on poetry and comprehend it“as a study，”【2】Wordsworth can be said to have anticipated the establish ment of English literature as an academic discipline before the formation of the Oxford English School in 1904.【3】Ian Reid in his 2004 book Wordsworth and the Formation of English Studies offers a discursive and reflexive account of how Wordsworthian thinking has been acknowledged or absorbed in the academic discipline of English in three institutional sites in London,M elbourne,and Cornell.【4】However,such sense of optimism about the Wordsworthian influence has not been widely shared by English teachers who are engaged in the teaching of Wordsworth to undergraduate students.In 1986，Peter J.Manning admitted that both he and a distinguished Romanticist at the University of Southern California felt the difficulty in disrupting the“bored silence”of students which betokened“a collective‘so what，’”and that to the sophomores，“the importance of Wordsworth's place in literary history can be explained but not felt.”【5】This worry about students'inability to feel related to Wordsworth in meaningful ways is also witnessed by David Simpson,who thus describes some typical classroom responses to Wordsworth among UC Davis undergraduates：

One or two identify with the nature poet,while others feel a kinship with the author of a major autobiographical poem who never quite seems to know what to do with his life.A few can appreciate the“doggerel poems”as intriguingly postmodern before their time,but many more agree with the student who wittily described Wordsworth's poetry as the“brussels sprouts”of literary history—you have to read it but you don't like it and you would never order it yourself.【6】

If the average American college students'attitude towards Wordsworth is indifferent at worst,the British teenagers'impression of the poet,as portrayed by the popular sitcom Outnumbered,must be alarming to English teachers.In one episode,Jake,the fifteen-year-old boy,has an essay to write on the Romantic poets.His opening sentence,written in front of the TV,is“the Romantic poets were a bunch of Emos.”When challenged by his father,Jake retorts in a nonchalant manner：“W ell,you know,I like daffodils and I appreciate them,but it doesn't mean I have to go on about them the whole time.I can think,that's a nice daffodil,and then move on with my life.”After the first sentence,he decides on the conclusion：“Wordsworth had a very bland life;the most interesting thing he did was sleep with his sister.”【7】One may shrug it off as a harmless joke in popular culture which does not deserve rebuttal,but Jake's response to Wordsworth does prompt me to think about the divide between what Nicholas Roe cal ls the“high”and“low”traditions of Wordsworth's reception,with the latter being“the basis of Wordsworth's reputation.”【8】If a voyeuristic interest in the poet's private life is all that excites a modern teenager,it may be time for scholars and school teachers to reflect what might have gone awry in our education.

What Peter J.Manning said about the American college students in the 1980s still holds true about British secondary school students in the 2010s：“［T］he bewilderment of current students repeats the situation Wordsworth described in 1800.Electronic marvels more seductive—and more violent—than the gross stimulants he inveighed against in the preface now compete for attention.”【9】One may add that what Wordsworth feared about“the degrading thirst after outrageous stimulation”is now instantly gratified with a swipe of the news or social networking applications on smart phones.In recent years,many literary scholars have recognised Wordsworth's relevance to our modern life.Brian McGrath,among others,points out that some key passages from the 1800 Preface to Lyrical Ballads have“come to a renewed legibility，”and he continues to contend that“［t］he numbness that consumers of realistic,real-time media experience today may be a version of the blunted modern mind Wordsworth diagnoses in the preface.”【10】

Wordsworth's disdain for his contemporary readers coexisted with his hope for an appreciative posterity.In his 1808 letter to Sir George Beaumont,preceding his declaration of the wish to be regarded as a teacher,Wordsworth claimed，“my Poems must be more nearly looked at before they can give rise to any remarks of much value,even from the strongest minds let the Poet first consult his own heart as I have done and leave the rest to posterity,to,I hope,an improving posterity”（MYⅠ：195）.One doubts whether he would have found an improving posterity among the youth of American and British schools two centuries later.I share a prominent Wordsworthian scholar's dismay：“To discover Wordsworth's perceived remoteness from so many of the few natural hearts I had hoped to find in the modern university was a shock of not so mild surprise.”【11】

In the poetic sense,Wordsworth has been abandoned for being an irrelevant teacher by English majors or secondary school students for the past few decades,despite their own teachers'painstaking efforts of engagement.In the practical sense,however,the poet is still regarded as a teacher,albeit degraded in the educational hierarchy to be associated chiefly with elementary school children,and,for that matter,challenged by professional educationists for being a poet of nature.E.D.Hirsch Jr.，the distinguished literary-critic-turned educator,published an article in 2001 about the root problems underlying the practical failures in reading and mathematics education in America's progressive schools.Hirsch attributes the failure of progressivism to its allegiance with Romanticism and questions American society's uncritical acceptance of“Romantic educational ideas.”【12】A large portion of the public has,in Hirsch's view,placed a quasi-religious faith in nature and natural develop ment.The principal“culprit”is Wordsworth,as Hirsch cleverly alludes to lyrical ballads like“The Tables Turned”and“The Idiot Boy”to expose the problems in progressive schools：“This naturalism explains the no-fault complacency with which a progressivist teacher reassures the concerned parent not to worry if Johnny or Jane is not reading at grade level.One must not interfere with the child's natural course of develop ment”（18）.Hirsch believes that a misplaced faith in the Romantic notion of natural develop ment can lead to serious social consequences,and therefore he appeals to the public's sense of“economic and political justice”for a greater scepticism towards the Romantic ideology of education（24）.

Hirsch's critique of the Romantic notion of education has a strong resonance in Britain,where the influence of Romanticism on education is more deeply felt and directly associated with Wordsworth.Andrew Stables,a British professor of education,observes that Wordsworth's description of his own childhood in The Prelude was consciously evoked as a powerful influence on educational practice in Britain in the latter half of the twentieth century.For Stables,Wordsworth held a“Romantic conception of the child”and“echoed many beliefs of Rousseau's in his championing of an essentially apolitical,anti-urban,nature-worshipping,solitary educational ethic.”【13】Later,on another occasion,Stables remarks that“Romantic,sometimes specifically Wordsworthian conceptions of the child still feature strongly in the international debate about childhood and schooling,and underpin current ideas about progressive and child-centred pedagogy.”【14】He concludes that“［t］he Romantics critiqued and problematised nurture while worshiping and mystifying nature，”and such worship and mystification“was never truly politically innocent.”【15】

We may pause to reflect on the multi-faceted reception of Wordsworth as a teacher in the educational context over the past few decades.How much of the literature students'indifference to Wordsworth may be a reflection of their own imaginative deficiencies？How much of the educationists'scepticism of Wordsworthian influence is a projection of their own doubts and fears？And how remote is our contemporary perception of Wordsworth's educational value from his original conceptions？To re-establish his relevance according to his own terms,it is necessary to trace the construction and deconstruction of the image of Wordsworth as a teacher.What follows is a brief survey of the literary critics'perception of the poet's relation to education since the twentieth century.

Book-sized publications about Wordsworth's involvement in education are few and far between.There are writings on the biographical aspect of Wordsworth's own education in Hawkshead or Cambridge，【16】and on the classroom teaching of Wordsworth's poetry by English teachers.【17】Ian Reid's 2004 book Wordsworth and the Formation of English Studies is a significant contribution to the study of Wordsworth's influence from the end of the nineteenth century,but the poet's general engagement with education in the whole nineteenth century remains to be explored.

Wordsworth's educational thoughts and engagements have also been discussed in individual articles and book sections,but these shorter pieces tend to tackle one aspect of his educational concerns,or give a cursory inspection of it amid general discussions of Wordsworth or Romanticism.My survey of these miscellaneous criticisms reveals that two themes stand out in critical discourses of Wordsworth's educational thinking:the first is the role of nature,which has been viewed by many as the most important force in a Wordsworthian education;and the second is childhood,for many critics have considered children as the primary subjects of Wordsworth's educational concern.

When critics touch upon Wordsworth's educational importance,the usual verdict they give relates to the role that the poet accorded to nature,although they differ greatly when it comes to the exact meaning of“nature”in the poet's educational scheme.Scholars in the early twentieth century interpreted nature in both material and spiritual senses,and stressed the intellectual and moral lessons to be derived from com munion with nature.John Churton Collins,in his 1901 lecture on“Wordsworth as a Teacher，”identified Wordsworth as“the poet of Nature，”【18】and he understood“nature”as“the material universe，”a vast living entity“endowed with sentient and intelligent life,having soul and reason”（117）.When he sum marised“the leading teachings of Wordsworth's philosophy，”the most important lesson was that man“possesses a soul which can be brought into harmony with the soul of Nature”（117-118）.C.Clarke developed this line of interpretation and differentiated two senses of“Nature”—one as“the world of natural objects”and the other as“the sense of an ultimate,non-visible Real ity.”【19】As an educative force,Nature“can not only supply man with knowledge,but also contribute to his moral education.”【20】

In the 1960s and 1970s,American scholars like Harold Bloom,M.H.Abrams and Geoffrey Hartman turned to explore the relation between mind,nature and imagination in Wordsworth's poetry.Bloom in The Visionary Company eulogises Wordsworth's grand proposal of a marriage between mind and nature that produces an earthly paradise.【21】Abrams in Natural Supernaturalism,endorses Bloom's understanding,and contends that the“high argument”of Wordsworth's major poetry is that“a new world”created by“an apocalyptic action of imaginative vision”is“man's only available paradise.”【22】Hartman has a more nuanced exposition of the relation between the three.In Wordsworth's Poetry，1787-1814 and subsequent articles,he accords a more prominent role to nature in the growth of the poet's imagination.Later Hartman argues that nature plays a crucial role in“converting the solipsistic into the sympathetic imagination，”and it“entices the brooding soul out of itself,toward nature first,then toward humanity.”【23】The emphasis of these scholars on the Romantic imagination was radical and influential,as it challenged the received wisdom that Wordsworth was a poet advocating the role of nature for moral refinement.

James Chandler gives the idea of nature's education a different twist in his 1984 monograph which locates Wordsworth's philosophy and power in reference to his involvement in the“intellectual history of the French Revolution.”【24】Chandler distinguishes between“nature”and“second nature”in the philosophical writings of Rousseau and Burke,arguing that“Wordsworthian‘nature'typically operates according to Burke's dialectic of second nature and not according to the Rousseauist model of nature to which,either implicitly or explicitly,it is most often likened”（74）.By the Burkean sense of second nature Chandler refers chiefly to habit,custom,and tradition—as opposed to the natural state of man in Rousseau's sense.Wordsworth's adherence to second nature has educational implications,for Chandler aims to demonstrate how the poet's literary experiments in Lyrical Ballads and the five-book Prelude“translate Burkean politics into attacks on Roussseauistic systems of（political）education，”and how Wordsworth“answers these‘natural'methods of education with a kind of traditionalism”（xxi i）.

In the 1990s,Wordsworth's education of nature takes another unexpected turn with the rise of ecocriticism in Britain initiated by Jonathan Bate's seminal book Romantic Ecology:Wordsworth and the Environmental Tradition（1991）.Bate intends to recast Wordsworth as a nature poet and sets his new readings against the New Historicist interpretations of Jerome McGann.A primary aim of Bate's book is“to recapture something of what Wordsworth did for the nineteenth century，”because it seems to the author that“what he did then is relevant to what we need now.”【25】I share Bate's sense of relevance and agree that now is the time to“allow Wordsworth to become once more what he imagined himself to be.”However,I have doubts over his equation of what the poet imagined himself to be with“what Shelley called him,and what he was to the Victorians：‘Poet of Nature.’”【26】As I have argued in the beginning of this Introduction,Wordsworth imagined himself to be a teacher and the Victorians did not easily agree with that.

The ecocritical approach to Romanticism has exerted enormous influence in the past few decades with the gradual awakening of a global awareness of the environmental crisis,arguably initiated by Rachel Carson's Silent Spring（1963）.Ironically,by bowing to nature,members of the ecocritical school have stimulated opposing views.In 2007，Timothy Morton published a book with a provocative title Ecology Without Nature.He argues that“the very idea of‘nature'which so many hold dear will have to wither away in an‘ecological'state of human society.”【27】In his 2010 book The Ecological Thought,Morton reiterates the argument that the idea of“nature”fails to serve ecology well：“Ecology can do without a concept of a something,a thing of some kind，‘over yonder，’called Nature.Yet thinking,including ecological thinking,has set up‘Nature'as a reified thing in the distance preferably in the mountains,in the wild.”【28】Morton's reflection on ecocriticism is a timely counterbalance to the simplistic use of Wordsworth as an iconic figure for environmental education and ecocritical pedagogy.【29】

These critics attach different shades of meaning to Wordsworth's use of nature,and understand its relation to education in different senses—moral,phenomenological,philosophical,political and ecocritical.Despite their divergent interpretations of nature and education,their choices of texts are rather uniform in the preference of poems written before 1807.Hence Wordsworth's musings on nature and education in his later poems,prose,and letters remain to be explored.A major task of my book is to demystify the role of nature in Wordsworth's thinking on education,by addressing the complementary role of culture—in the forms of books and rel igious faith.Wordsworth persistently emphasised the cooperation between nature and culture,and his advocacy of a rel igious education,which gained increasing momentum in later writings,has been relatively understudied.

Further more,it is necessary to understand the cause of such overemphasis on nature.Critics who perceive Wordsworth's educational thinking as constructed on the role of nature tend to focus on the first few books of The Prelude and the familiar poems from Lyrical Ballads,where Wordsworth's descriptions of childhood in a natural environment and natural state of mind evoke powerful responses.Nature and childhood have long been regarded as the two most important subjects in Wordsworth's best poetry,and they form the basis of many critics'understanding of Wordsworthian education.

While nature is associated with Wordsworth's educational views in general,children are supposed to be the chief subject of his educational concern.With the rise of studies of childhood from the 1970s，【30】Wordsworth's representation of children and childhood has been under closer scrutiny,for his enigmatic line“the child is father of the man”still captures the popular imagination.Critics writing about the Romantic childhood inevitably turn to Wordsworth,and their discussions of Wordsworth's portrayal of childhood always touch on its implications for education.Childhood and education are thus closely related in studies on Romanticism in general and Wordsworth in particular.In a complicated turn of events,Wordsworth's educational views seem to have become only relevant as far as children and early education are concerned.

A.S.Byatt is among the pioneering critics who attended to Wordsworth's ideas of education and childhood.Byatt observes that“［s］ome of Wordsworth's greatest poetry deals with the relationship between the experience of the child and the experience of the adult—develop ment of consciousness,modes of learning.”【31】In the light of this develop mental psychology,she judges that the poet“attached great importance to the education and upbringing of children.”Byatt concludes that,although interest in the child developed generally in the Romantic period，“some of Wordsworth's insights are much deeper than was usual amongst poets or educational theorists.”【32】To some extent,later readings of the Wordsworthian childhood and education can be viewed as various echoes of or rebellion against such sympathetic and appreciative interpretations.I believe that Byatt's succinct observations contain more truth than the politicised readings as offered by Judith Plotz and Alan Richardson.

As an early champion of the Romantic childhood,Judith Plotz has based her studies on the conviction that there exists an archetypal“Romantic child，”characterised by one dominant trait with varied manifestations in a group of Romantic writers headed by Wordsworth.The problem of adhering to a unifying image is manifest in the two contradictory characteristics of that Romantic childhood she has proposed in two critical pieces written about twenty years apart.In a 1979 article,Plotz interprets the child as a symbol for the Romantic consciousness of develop ment and perceives“continuity and develop ment”as the dominant themes of Wordsworth's poetry.【33】However,in her 2001 monograph Romanticism and the Vocation of Childhood,Plotz presents the Romantic child as“an emblem of fixity rather than of growth and develop ment.”【34】

What remains unchanged in Plotz's arguments is the“anti-educational strain”associated with the chi ld image,which is perhaps derived from her pecul iar understanding of the line“the chi ld is father of the man.”If the child is indeed the“father of the man，”Plotz questions，“how can the process of growing up be anything other than‘a descent into a lesser form of being？’”【35】To maintain the sanctity of an almost idealised childhood,the educational process“must seem ironic,a forced exchange of a lower for a higher form of vision.”【36】This“anti-educational strain”is further stretched in 2001，when Plotz remarks that“Romanticism uncouples the link between schooling and childhood;the more schooling,the less childhood.”（31）.Plotz finds the child,for its self-sufficiency and alienation from adults,becomes the father of himself.Her conclusion is alarming with political implications：“The emphatic sequestration produces childhood as a space of freedom.It is a ticket of release for parents,granting them f reedom f rom parental responsibility”（85）.

A careful reader could easily detect a logical flaw in Plotz's arguments—that she seems to have employed a simple syllogism in both pieces of criticism.Since the Romantic child must be a symbol of develop ment or fixation,and Wordsworth is the most celebrated Romantic poet on childhood,it follows that he represented the develop ment or fixation more effectively than others,and consistently so.The fixation on what one may call“the Wordsworthian childhood”also leads Plotz to a narrow and perhaps mistaken view of Wordsworth's thinking about education,particularly with regard to schooling and parental duties,which will be examined in the next chapter.

Alan Richardson,in his wide-ranging and much acclaimed book Literature,Education,and Romanticism,suggests that“education might be taken as defining the Romantic ethos.”【37】Childhood and education are related in that“educational practices and institutions presuppose a child to educate，”and“the manner in which childhood is conceived and represented helps shape the theory and practice of education no less than these in turn affect conceptions of the child”（8）.In this light,Richardson's investigation into Wordsworth's educational engagement is unnecessarily confined by his assuming the child as the subject of education and excluding the adult reader who is the real target of the poet's concern.I will argue,throughout this book,that Wordsworth intended to educate adult readers,most of whom were responsible for the education of children.

Even within the scope of childhood education,Richardson's discussion is heavily influenced by the contemporary social theories of ideology and hegemony as expounded by Louis Althusser,Pierre Bourdieu and Frederic Jameson.For Richardson,the most captivating line from Wordsworth is“knowledge not purchas'd with the loss of power”（1805 Prelude V：449），【38】as the word power“would ordinarily evoke social relations of domination”（38）.Putting aside the question whether Wordsworth and Foucault mean the same thing with their use of“power，”one still has the uneasy feeling that Wordsworth's poetry has been selectively employed—sometimes out of context—to illustrate modern theories of social discipline.

In his book,Richardson cites Plotz's 1979 article,and,in return,his reading is absorbed in Plotz's revisionist book of 2001.Plotz's telescopic focus on the Romantic childhood and Richardson's politicised reading of education and childhood tend to reinforce the image of Wordsworth as the poet of childhood.The extent of their influence is visible from the fact that both Plotz and Richardson feature prominently in Ann Wierda Rowland's book Romanticism and Childhood:The In f antilization of British Literary Culture（2012），which begins and ends with a study of Wordsworth's poetry of childhood and has“The Child is Father of the Man”as the title of its first chapter.Although these three critics have provided nuanced readings of Wordsworth's treatment of childhood and education,their interpretations have consciously or unconsciously promoted the idea of Wordsworth as a poet of childhood,with doubtful political implications of education for children as well as adults.

A.S.Byatt's succinct com ments on Wordsworth's views on education and childhood in 1970，I believe,are still more pertinent to the poet and to his modern readers.I also share Stephen Gill's view that“to see Wordsworth as essentially the poet of childhood is to misunderstand him completely，”because throughout his greatest period of creativity Wordsworth was interested in“the develop ment of the adult mind”and“the adult moral sense”（Life 10）.When the focus is adjusted slightly from childhood to education,in the broader sense of the term as defined by Wordsworth in his 1836 speech,and the view expanded to include the whole corpus of Wordsworth's writings,one may have a very different understanding of Wordsworth's representation of childhood.It forms only a part—important but not essential—of the poet's overall educational concern.

My conclusion from the brief survey of existing studies on Wordsworth and education is that the poet's educational message is thought to be primarily about the role of nature and its relevance for the upbringing of children.As Louise Chawla once pointed out，Romantic connections between childhood and nature are usually dismissed as“romantic”in the most pejorative sense—an idealised,unrealistic picture of unbroken innocence and happiness that represses the reality of social discord and pain.What this cursory dismissal actually expresses is ignorance of Romantic thought.【39】When E.D.Hirsch Jr.and Andrew Stables expose the pernicious influence of Romantic or Wordsworthian education in modern schools,they target a stereotyped image of Wordsworth as a poet of nature and childhood.

The extent to which such a stereotyped understanding of Wordsworth has infiltrated the twenty-first century's educational system and suffered undeserved criticism is what motivated my reassessment of Wordsworth's educational engagement,both practically and poetically.My own approach has benefited from the scholarly debate over the past several decades.What M.H.Abrams considers the“high argument”of Wordsworth's poetry about the redemptive power of imagination still holds true,but needs to be grounded more solidly in social history,especially the educational history as explored by Alan Richardson.With Jonathan Bate,I believe Wordsworth is still profoundly relevant to us today—not as a nature poet but as a teacher-poet.I also agree with James Chandler and Timothy Morton that nature has to be demystified,so that the value of culture can be restored in Wordsworth's educational thinking.

In extending the scope of examination to include Wordsworth's later writings and his posthumous influence on education,I have been influenced by Stephen Gill's conviction that the later Wordsworth has been underestimated.Gill first expresses this conviction in his biography of the poet：“Wordsworth's later years cannot be dismissed as of‘merely biographical interest’”（Li fe vi i），because“as Wordsworth grew older he became a stronger,not a weaker,power in national culture”（Life viii）.He backs up the conviction with a richly documented book Wordsworth and the Victorians in 1998，and another book Wordsworth's Revisitings in 2011.In the latter book,Gill reiterates his“conviction that imaginatively he［Wordsworth］remained impressively vigorous into old age and that the artistic stature of the poet in his later years tends to be underestimated.”【40】Therefore,I regard this book a modest contribution to what Gill calls“the ongoing reassessment of the later Wordsworth，”【41】from an educational perspective.

Since the term“education”evokes associations of pedagogy,didacticism,and even authoritarianism,I am aware of this word's potential unpopularity in what M.H.Abrams wryly refers to as“our present critical climate”when he evokes Matthew Arnold's tribute to“Wordsworth's healing power”in a Cornell lecture.【42】But I find myself not alone in reaffirming the humanistic value of Wordsworth.In 2012，Adam Potkay published a book unabashedly titled Wordsworth's Ethics.By borrowing his title from Leslie Stephen's 1876 essay“Wordsworth's Ethics，”Potkay hopes to offer“a useful corrective or counterweight to the antihumanist excesses that have come to characterize many literary studies and that have made them largely irrelevant to any but the most rarefied academic audiences.”【43】My book titled The Poet as Teacher will contribute to what Potkay sees as“positive yet still fragile trends within twenty-first-century literary criticism:its so-called ethical turn;a more general interest in thinking about the sort of thought that literature facilitates or makes possible.”【44】

To restore Wordsworth's importance and relevance as a teacher,this book delves into the poet's own time and tries to answer the following questions:What is implied in his claim that every great poet is a teacher？In what sense does he wish to be regarded as a teacher,and by whom？Where does he gain the authority to“usurp”the educational influence of a traditional teacher on the one hand,and assert superiority over readers on the other hand？How did the nineteenth century reading public respond to his poet-as-teacher claim？And above all,is Wordsworth still relevant to us？

A book thus conceived has to be selective in order to highlight Wordsworth's identity as a poet-teacher.It seeks to approach Wordsworth's practical and poetic engagement with education from four perspectives,namely,his lifelong critique of contemporary educational theories and practices;his proposal for an alternative mode of poetic education as exemplified by his poetic speakers;his continuous efforts to educate readers;and his reception by Victorian educators.From the four perspectives grow four chapters which become the main body of this book.They proceed thematically,as each treats a particular kind of audience of Wordsworth's educational concerns.Each chapter progresses more or less chronologically,so as to reveal the develop ment of Wordsworth's thoughts,his changes as well as his consistency.I believe a more accurate understanding of the comprehensiveness and complexity of Wordsworth's educational concerns can be achieved by locating the poet in the political,economic,literary and cultural context of the late eighteenth to early nineteenth centuries.By making the poet relevant to his own time,this book explores the history of competing views on practical education and competing interpretations of Wordsworth's educational value,so as to reaffirm his enduring power and relevance as a poet-teacher in our time.