The Love Letters Project #12: In Response To William Wordsworth

A love letter from Mary Wordsworth in response to her husband, William.

Who better to write the world’s most memorable love letters than the world’s most famous writers? And just imagine if that love letter came from a husband that was one of the most famous English Romantic poets, William Wordsworth? Here is his wife’s response to a letter sadly lost to us…

Oh My William! It is not in my power to tell thee how I have been affected by this dearest of all letters – it was so unexpected – so new a thing to see the breathing of thy inmost heart upon paper that I was quite overpowered, & now that I sit down to answer thee in the loneliness & depth of that love which unites us & which cannot be felt but by ourselves, I am so agitated & my eyes are so bedimmed that I scarcely know how to proceed…

Wordsworth’s marriage to his second wife, Mary Hutchinson, would come at a difficult time for the English poet. Two of his children would soon die, his brother would be lost at sea and his sister would suffer an emotional breakdown. Throughout, his love for his wife Mary shines through – even if we can only catch second-hand glimpses of it…

Mike Sowden

Mike Sowden is a freelance writer based in the north of England, obsessed with travel, storytelling and terrifyingly strong coffee. He has written for online & offline publications including Mashable, Matador Network and the San Francisco Chronicle, and his work has been linked to by Lonely Planet, World Hum and Lifehacker. If all the world is a stage, he keeps tripping over scenery & getting tangled in the curtain - but he's just fine with that.