William Wordsworth › Texts

Wordsworth, William, the poet, the son of an attorney, was born at Cockermouth in 1770, and educated at St. John's College, Cambridge, where he graduated B.A. in 1791. Devoting himself to literature, and especially to poetry, he gradually rose into the front rank of English poets. His works include Lyrical Ballads, 1798; Poems; The Prelude; The Excursion, 1814, &c. All his poetical productions were collected and republished under his own supervision in 7 vols., in 1842. He died at Kydal Mount, near Grasmere, in 1850. Notwithstanding his rank and reputation as a poet, his pieces used as hymns are limited to the following extracts from his poems:—
1. Not seldom clad in radiant vest. Christ, the Unchangeable. This is No. v. of five "Inscriptions supposed to be found In and near a Hermit's cell, 1818." It is in 5 stanzas of 4 lines, and is given in his Poetical Works, 1831, vol. iii., p. 290. It is in Stowell's Selection of Hymns, 1831-77; the American Plymouth Collection, 1855, &c.
2. Up to the throne of God is borne. Noonday. This is entitled "The Labourer's Noon-Day Hymn," is dated 1834, and is in 6 stanzas of 4 lines. (Poetical Work, 1837, vol. v. p. 122.) It is in common use in an abridged form, beginning with stanza i., and the latter part is also given in Martineau's Hymns, 1840, as "Look up to heaven, the industrious sun," as No. 535.

-- John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)