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In this introduction to Wordsworth's greatest poem, its creation, historical context, structure and reception history, Stephen Gill places The Prelude in the context of Wordsworth's life, and discusses the various states in which it survives. He gives an account of each book of the 1805 poem, and provides detailed discussion of its blank verse and of the religious viewpoint of the whole. The final chapter is a survey of the work's scholarly and critical reception.