By examining the family and financial circumstances of Wordsworth's early years, this illuminating biography reshapes our understanding of the great Romantic poet's most creative period of life and writing. * Features new research into Wordsworth's financial situation, and into how the poet and his family survived financially * Offers a new understanding of the role of his great unwritten poem 'The Recluse' * Presents a new assessment of the relationship between Wordsworth and Coleridge