Famed poet
William Wordsworth's younger sister,
Dorothy Wordsworth (1771-1855), is known principally for her
poems and
journals, which have proved invaluable for later biographies and studies of the poet.
Dorothy began to write around 1795, when she shared a house with William in
Dorset. Several of
Dorothy's poems were included in her
brother's publications; she herself
published nothing. Her journals, the most well-known of which are the
Alfoxden Journal (1798) and
Grasmere Journals (1800-1803), were published
posthumously. These journals were written with Dorothy's delicate, exquisite diction, describing the
Wordsworth household, friends, and travels.
The
Alfoxden Journal was written in
Alfoxden,
Somerset, where she met poet
Samuel Taylor Coleridge. They and her brother
William traveled in
Germany together and were continually sources of inspiration for each other in their writings.
In 1799, Dorothy settled with
William in
the Lake District of
Grasmere at
Dove Cottage, where she wrote her
Grasmere Journals. Also, she made the acquaintance of writer
Thomas DeQuincey there in 1807. In 1808, she moved back to
Rydal and lived with her family.
In 1829,
Dorothy became ill, and in 1835 she developed arteriosclerosis. For the last 20 years of her
life, Dorothy suffered from an obscure
illness that made her prematurely
senile. She died in
Rydal on January 25, 1855.