Neoclassical Wordsworth

Abstract

This essay looks at Wordsworth’s ‘Laodamía’ as an example of a neoclassical phase that his writings took, beginning in 1814 and continuing for about a decade. I examine Wordsworth’s verse form, an adaptation of the stanza Shakespeare used in ‘Venus and Adonis’, and also look at the ways in which he modifies his classical sources, especially Ovid’s Heroides xiii. The essay then considers the style of the poem, especially how Wordsworth incorporates translations and paraphrases of passages from Virgil’s Aeneid, which is itself one of his classical sources. The essay ends with an analysis of the revisions he made, over several years, to the conclusion of the poem.