“Of genius the only proof is, the act of doing well what is worthy to be…” — William Wordsworth

“Of genius the only proof is, the act of doing well what is worthy to be done, and what was never done before.”

defining genius by achievement rather than promise · Essay, Supplementary to the Preface, 1815

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About William Wordsworth

7 April 1770–23 April 1850

William Wordsworth was born on 7 April 1770 in Cockermouth, Cumberland, in the northwestern corner of England, and died on 23 April 1850 at Rydal Mount in the Lake District. Few poets have altered English literary culture so thoroughly. With Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Wordsworth helped establish the principles of…

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