Who wrote the poem commonly titled “Tintern Abbey”?

The full title of the poem is “Lines Composed a Few Miles above Tintern Abbey, on Revisiting the Banks of the Wye during a tour, 13 July 1798”. It is the climatic poem of Lyrical Ballads (1798). The poet is William Wordsworth, considered a poet of the Romanticism era. He and his circle of poets commonly referred to the poem as “Tintern Abbey”. The picture is of Tintern Abbey today. Wordsworth was born in England in 1770 and worked with another noted poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge. He became England’s poet laureate in 1843, a role he held until his death in 1850.

“Tintern Abbey” is distinguished from other writings on nature in the late 18th century by its complex integration of the landscape described, a self-reflection and Wordsworth’s sheer philosophical ambition.

Philip Shaw, Professor of Romantic Studies at the Unveristy of Leicester maintains that for Wordsworth, this is a revisiting experience, as he looks beyond surface appearances to gain insight into a deeper level of experience, distinguishing the view from his younger self.

Another critic, William Gilpin describes the picturesque qualities of the ruins of “Tintern Abbey”, and contrasts them with the miserable living conditions of those who worked nearby.