Comitini — More Than Half a Poet (2003)

Comitini, Patricia. ‘“More Than Half A Poet”: Vocational Philanthropy in Dorothy Wordsworth’s Grasmere Journals.’” European Romantic Review 14.3 (2003): 307–22.

“The way criticism has treated Dorothy Wordsworth has all to do with the way she represents herself, her writing, and her brother in her journals. Scholars have labored to understand the function of the Grasmere Journal and of “Dorothy Wordsworth” as a representation of nineteenth-century womanhood. Whether characterizing her as a domestic subject, novice writer or helpmate, scholarship has focused primarily on her failure to realize herself, develop her talent, or establish her own home” (p. 307).

Wolf — Shared Recollections (2021)

Wolf, Alexis. “Shared Recollections: Dorothy Wordsworth’s Scottish Tour of 1803.” Studies in Romanticism 60.4 (2021): 401–417.

Abstract: “This essay examines the composition, publication and reception of Dorothy Wordsworth’s Recollections of a Tour Made in Scotland, A.D. 1803. Manuscript versions of Recollections are interpreted as sociable texts exchanged by marginal women figures of the Wordsworths’ literary circle; as tools for Romantic cooperative writing, moving between prose and verse; and as later life emblems of agency and mobility. Building on existing research on literary sociability as well as manuscript circulation, this essay considers the permeable nature of Romantic women’s books, resituating them as intrinsic to the development of individual and communal literary identities and bibliographies in the period.”

Newlyn — Confluence (2011)

Newlyn, Lucy. “Confluence: William and Dorothy Wordsworth in 1798.” Journal for Eighteenth-Century Studies 34.2 (2011): 227–45.

Abstract: “Dorothy Wordsworth’s Alfoxden Journal exemplifies the collaborative nature of creativity in the Wordsworth household. As a kind of commonplace book, it served to record shared experiences (often connected with conversations) which could be used as a future creative resource. But it was also an expression of Dorothy’s own unique way of seeing and responding to the natural world, which played a vital role in William’s intellectual development. This essay traces the influence of Dorothy’s prose style on William’s poetry during 1798, analysing the complex interactions between observation, conversation and recollection that took place in the compositional processes of both writers.”