Jim Garrett

Reviews: "Pairing the national projects with Wordsworthian counterparts, Garrett attends closely to the specific ways in which both Wordsworth's poetics and the methodologies of such institutional undertakings as the census and survey interact with these modalities. As the detailed analyses in this thoroughly-researched and well-executed book demonstrate, what might seem to be an unbridgeable gap between these distinct realms of British culture more closely resembles a crossroads . . . Wordsworth and the Writing of the Nation builds a comprehensive account of a dynamic that operates on multiple levels both in Wordsworth's poetry and in the empirical representations produced by his contemporaries. Garrett does an admirable job surveying territory pertaining to his topic, mapping its varied manifestations and interconnections, and defining the modalities with which both the poems and the empirical “writing of the nation” engage." (Studies in Romanticism) 

"The virtues of Wordsworth and the Writing of the Nation are many. Garrett is a patient reader who moves nimbly between detailed historical discussion and the letter of the texts in question, and he offers a genuinely compelling model for understanding the late Wordsworth." (The Wordsworth Circle)

"Moving fluently between Wordsworth’s poetry and its cultural contexts, this splendidly intelligent study analyzes Wordsworth’s lifelong effort to construct and maintain a public persona, and helps us understand how and why he was able to become an exemplary national poet in the decades following his death. Capaciously literate and theoretically sophisticated, Garrett’s book should be read not just by anyone interested in Wordsworth, but by anyone interested in how nations are imagined.” (Marc Redfield, Claremont Graduate University, USA)

“Including a meticulous analysis of Wordsworth's less celebrated poems, Garrett's research may also be of interest to those Wordsworthians interested in that aspect of his craft which draws upon insights derived from seventeenth-century British empiricism, as Garrett's foregrounding of Wordsworth's classification modus operandi sheds additional light on his fascination with phenomena as appropriate content for his poetry.” (BARS Bulletin)

“Garrett's unique approach yields fresh insights into the complex relationship between a nascent national and poetic self-consciousness, their convergence, and subsequent transformations.” (Modern Language Review)

“… an engaging and thought provoking approach to the poet’s work, questioning the dominant image of a writer whose powers declined precipitously after 1807, and suggesting a number of ways in which a reconsideration of the later work – including, in particular, the work of cataloguing and publishing – could enrich our understanding of both the poet and his historical moment.” (Notes and Queries)

The WVA is a digital text archive of the published poetry of William Wordsworth (1770-1850). Twelve editions of Wordsworth’s poetry (with edition-specific concordances) have been placed online and are available at www.wordsworthvariorum.com