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2.2 William Wordsworth-An Age of Great Turbulence
To understand Wordsworth’s thought , it is necessary for us to know the social background at his time. Wordsworth lived in an age of great changes in English history when the industrial revolution in the second half of the 18th century, and the French Revolution of 1789一94 and the ensuing Napoleonic Wars exerted their strong impact upon England's economic, political and social scenes. The industrial revolution had first brought with it modern machinery and modern industry, but soon economic exploitation and political struggle between the industrial capitalists and the proletariat became the major social problem in England. The impact that the French Revolution had upon England was also huge .In 1789, when the Revolution first overthrew France's age一old monarchical and aristocratic tyranny, not only the labouring people but even some feudal aristocrats and part of the bourgeoisie in England showed their strong sympathy toward the French people, but later on when the radical Jacobins came into power, the ruling classes in England became frightened. Soon they joined the Holy Alliance and waged war with France till the fall of Napoleon in 1815.In the meantime, following the workers' disturbances in York, Nottingham and Leister, there were in the late 1790s the revolutionary risings among the navy in 1797 and the national rising in Ireland in 1798. Then in the first two decades of the 19th century two major events took place: (1)the Luddites' destruction of machinery in 1810一1811 and the massacre of a popular gathering in St.Peter's Fields near Manchester in 1819. The post-Napoleonic wars brought economic depression to England, and the fall of agricultural production and the introduction of the Corn Laws, with the consequent rise of the price of bread, led to greater miseries for the people and to their stronger demands for reform. On the other hand, the industrial bourgeoisie who had emerged as a political force since the industrial revolution began to fight for supremacy in political power with the landed aristocrats and the finance and commercial bourgeoisie. Finally came the so called parliamentary reform of 1832, which brought the industrial capitalists into political power, but the poor people who supported them in the fight for reform got nothing from it except greater poverty and intensified exploitation in the 1830s and 1840s.（Jia Chen, 1996: 12)
With the above mentioned historical background in mind, we can conclude that Wordsworth lived in an age of great turbulence in English history. This naturally helps us to explain why the poet would often feel so troubled in his mind in face of the great changes he saw in society.(Jiang Jianjun , 2002: 9).
2.2.1 Life Experience
Wordsworth was born in Cockermouth, England, the second son of Anne Cookson Wordsworth. An attorney for a prominent local aristocrat, John Wordsworth provided a secure and comfortable living for his family. But with his wife's death in 1778, the family dispersed: the boys were enrolled into boarding school in Hawkshead, and Wordsworth's sister, Dorothy, was sent to live with cousins in Halifax. In the rural surroundings of Hawkeshead, situated in the lush Lake District, Wordsworth early learned to love nature, including the pleasure of walking and outdoor play. He also enjoyed his formal education. The school curriculum included the works of Edmund Spenser, William Shakespeare, John Milton, James Beattie, and Thomas Chatterton, and Wordsworth supplemented himself with such authors as Henry Fielding and Miguel de Cervantes. In addition, Wordsworth demonstrated a talent for writing poetry and received encouragement from his teachers.