William Wordsworth was an English poet, born in England on 7th April 1770. He was a Romantic poet who, with Samuel Taylor Coleridge, helped to launch the Romantic Age in English literature with their joint publication Lyrical Ballads in 1798. His most famous work, The Prelude is considered by many to be the crowning achievement of English romanticism. He died at Rydal Mount on April 23, 1850, leaving his wife Mary to publish The Prelude three months later.