Wordsworth wrote that he longed to compose ‘some philosophic Song / OfTruth that cherishes our daily life.’ Yet he never finished The Recluse, his longphilosophical poem. Simon Jarvis argues that Wordsworth’s aspiration to‘philosophic song’ is central to his greatness, and changed the way English poetrywas written. Some critics see Wordsworth as a systematic thinker, while forothers, he is a poet first, and a thinker only (if at all) second. Jarvis shows insteadhow essential both philosophy and the ‘song’ of poetry were to Wordsworth’sachievement. Drawing on advanced work in continental philosophy and socialtheory to address the ideological attacks which have dominated much recentcommentary, Jarvis reads Wordsworth’s writing both critically and philosophically,to show how Wordsworth thinks through and in verse. This study rethinksthe relation between poetry and society itself by analysing the tensions betweenthinking philosophically and writing poetry.