1802
The Lyrical Ballads and Sonnets which follow were written in 1802; but during that year Wordsworth continued mainly to work at The Excursion, as the following extracts from his sister's Journal indicate:
"Feb. 1, 1802.—William worked hard at The Pedlar, and tired himself.
2nd Feb.—Wm. worked at The Pedlar. I read aloud the 11th book of Paradise Lost.
Thursday, 4th.—William thought a little about The Pedlar.
5th.—Wm. sate up late at The Pedlar.
7th.—W. was working at his poem. Wm. read The Pedlar, thinking it was done. But lo! ... it was uninteresting, and must be altered."
Similar records occur each day in the Journal from the 10th to the 14th Feb. 1802.—Ed.
[Contents 1802]
[Main Contents]
The Sailor's Mother
Composed March 11th and 12th, 1802.—Published 1807
[Written in Town-end, Grasmere. I met this woman near the Wishing-gate, on the high road that then led from Grasmere to Ambleside. Her appearance was exactly as here described, and such was her account, nearly to the letter.—I. F.]