The Convention of Cintra

Book excerpt: This 304 page bicentennial critical edition of William Wordsworth's impassioned pamphlet on The Convention of Cintra is based on W J B Owen's scholarly edition, and includes all of Professor Owen's commentary and notes. Wordsworth's essay is not merely one of the classic works about the peninsular war but widely cited as one of the first theorisations of guerrilla warfare. It is also a remarkable revelation of Wordsworth's philosophy of human life, and reveals the reanimation of his youthful radicalism by his shock at the British establishment's betrayal of Spanish and Portuguese patriots. The text is prefaced by a critical colloquium with essays by Simon Bainbridge, David Bromwich, Richard Gravil, Timothy Michael and Patrick Vincent.