Wordsworth's poetry observes nature - its beauty and inherent wisdom - with unmatched skill and sincerity. His view of humanity, however, was far more complex - and controversial. Having transformed from a budding revolutionary to an unyielding conservative in his lifetime, Wordsworth's poetry is shaped by the same contradictions he embodied. Criticized and sanctified in equal measure, he occupies that hallowed space reserved for poets who have altered the art forever.