Autobiography And Truth In Wordworth'S The Prelude

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How is truth treated in the autobiographies of any one of the following writers: St Augustine, Dante, Rosseau or Wordsworth? In your answer, you should outline a definition of truth in autobiography that seems to you to be workable. Include some discussion of authenticity and authority. Say whether the autobiographer you have selected conforms to your view of truth or not. Also, evaluate the importance to autobiography of the reader’s perception of the autobiographer’s truthfulness. Seminar Presentation - Wordsworth 16 March 2009 How is truth revealed in The Prelude, being an autobiographical poem by William Wordsworth? For the purposes of this discussion, truth may be defined as the continuing process of sane consciousness engaging with experience (involving reality, thought, feeling) resulting in a communicable idea, which is then communicated via a reliable medium, without deceit. In autobiography, this is necessarily the experience of the author and the consciousness of the author which is rendered into communication by (the controlling authority of) the author. Authenticity This relates to Wordsworth being the writer of his material, of him being the thinker of the thoughts and the feeler of the feelings which are the base material of his autobiography. The writer’s memory and the thoughtfulness during the period between the real events and recording of them are of concern here. Authority Athority refers to Wordsworth’s standing as a commentator, judge and interpreter of his experiences, thoughts and feelings. This is the writer’s ability (and our acceptance of it) to draw conclusions from his experiences – be they real, thoughtful or emotional. The author may develop such conclusions into more generally applicable truths, theories or philosophies and suggest that they have value outside of his or her immediate consciousness, and that

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