Wordsworth's Liturgical Excursion.

This article joins the critical reassessment of the Romantic generation's role in contemporary debates about religious belief and practice. I focus on Wordsworth's frequent but often neglected use of liturgical discourse in The Excursion. Critics have repeatedly characterized the poem as a "failure" due to the fact Wordsworth's skeptical character, the Solitary, does not undergo a conversion experience at the poem's end. I argue that by paying close attention to liturgical discourse, we do see a change in Solitary—a growing openness to spiritual fellowship, which the poem ultimately names as "communion." [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]