News at Eleven: Of course, Michael's true monument

is the magnificent poem that tells his tale. The question of what remains after our dearest hopes have been disappointed is addressed by the greatest of Wordsworth's early poems. "The Ruined Cottage", "The Female Vagrant" and "The Thorn" attempt to take the measure of the worst losses that can befall an individual. The stories they tell end in defeat, but the poems endure.

from The Guardian: William Wordsworth edited by Stephen Gill--review

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