William Wordsworth and the “Miraculous Gift” of Habit

Abstract

Habit is often considered boring, mundane, uncreative, and conservative, that is, something antithetical to the spontaneous working of creative imagination. By exploring in the texts of William Wordsworth the resonant influence of the Scholastic and Reformed theory of the “infused habit,” or habit of “grace,” and Alexander Gerard’s habit of “genius,” this essay will illuminate the surprising cooperation of habit within Wordsworth’s creative imagination. In arguing against the conventional idea of habit while describing it as a new and surprising gift (i.e., grace and genius) of others, this essay will present a more nuanced understanding of the creative sovereignty and imagination of the Romantic poet, which our limited imagination toward habit has precluded.