Sir William Watson’s Wordsworth’s Grave: A Critical Memorial Poem

Sir William Watson’s Wordsworth’s Grave is the finest long poem, and the title suggests it to be elegiac. The prime purpose of an elegy is to express grief of the writer over the event of death. But Wordsworth’s Grave was written long after the death of the poet and more over the intention was to appreciate the poetic achievement of Wordsworth. Thus, it is justified to consider it as a memorial poem rather than an elegy. The poem primarily estimates Wordsworth’s worth and compares his commitment with his contemporaries.