The Prelude is William Wordsworth's great autobiographical poem. Commenced in 1798, and periodically expanded and revised throughout Wordsworth's life, it was published in 1850 after the poet's death. This Reader's Guide: begins with a discussion of the complex textual history of The Prelude covers the full range of critical responses surrounding the poem, from the first Victorian reviewers to Modernist polemicists, and from the 'theory wars' of the 1970s and 1980s to the emergence of recent '