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The Prelude or, Growth of a Poet's Mind; An Autobiographical Poem is an autobiographical epic poem in blank verse by the English poet William Wordsworth. Intended as the introduction to the more philosophical Recluse, which Wordsworth never finished, The Prelude is an extremely personal and revealing work on the details of Wordsworth's life. Wordsworth began The Prelude in 1798 at the age of 28 and continued to work on it throughout his life. The Prelude was eventually published posthumously in 1850 by Wordsworth's wife, Mary Wordsworth. He never gave it a title; he called it the "Poem (title not yet fixed upon) to Coleridge" and in his letters to Dorothy Wordsworth referred to it as "the poem on the growth of my own mind". The poem was unknown to the general public until published three months after Wordsworth's death in 1850, its final name given to it by his widow Mary. The poem has been referred to as the first psychological epic.
