Michael (poem)

Above is shown the 1798 edition of Lyrical Ballads. "Michael" was added in Wordsworth's 1800 edition.

"Michael" is a pastoral poem, written by William Wordsworth and first published in the 1800 edition of Lyrical Ballads, a series of poems that were said to have begun the English Romantic movement in literature.[1] The poem is one of Wordsworth's best-known poems and the subject of much critical literature.[1] It tells the story of an ageing shepherd, Michael, his wife Isabel, and his only child Luke.[1]

Analyses have claimed "Michael" to have been a political statement regarding the modernization of England, due to the advent of the enclosure system—erasing the idyllic pastoral way of life that Michael formerly enjoyed.[2] Nevertheless, scholar Deanne Westbrook interpreted the worked to be as a New Testament-esque parable and even a metaparable.[3]

  1. ^ a b c Terry., Gifford (2019). Pastoral. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-317-29947-9. OCLC 1124611141.
  2. ^ Page, Judith (Autumn 1989). "A History / Homely and Rude": Genre and Style in Wordsworth's "Michael". SEL: Studies in English Literature 1500–1900. 29 (4): 633. doi:10.2307/450603. JSTOR 450603.
  3. ^ Westbrook, Deanne (1997). "Wordsworth's Prodigal Son: "Michael" as Parable and as Metaparable". The Wordsworth Circle. 28 (2): 109–119. doi:10.1086/TWC24044636. ISSN 0043-8006. JSTOR 24044636. S2CID 165351379.