A detailed biography that is sympathetic to the great Romantic poet. A huge amount of research. Vast supply of notes and references. Juliet Barker treats her subject with respect and objectivity. I enjoyed it, despite having to make a determined effort to complete the reading.
The cast of relations and friends is massive, so much so that often one is lost for remembering who is related to whom, in a welter of cousins, in-laws and the families of friends.
What stands out is the prodigious walking these Lakeland people did; the elaborate and long trips they made (before and after the introduction of the railway) and the truly exhaustive hospitality that they provided and expected. The Wordsworths were so often at the mercy of sudden debt or financial misfortune that one must admire their resilience and unfailing ability to assist each other when illness, death and disaster struck.
Alongside this of course, is the creation of the poetry by WW himself and Barker plots this progress thoroughly.