The Construction of “the Spirit of the Place” in Wordsworth’s Travel Poems Memorials of a Tour in Italy

Despite his established identity as a “Lake Poet”, William Wordsworth travelled constantly throughout his life both within Britain and abroad. Memorials of a Tour in Italy, 1837 , which records Wordsworth’s tour in Italy in 1837, was first published in 1842 as a part of Poems, Chiefly of Early and Late Years. Adopting a perspective from literary geography, this paper examines how Wordsworth experienced and represented Italy in his later years, with particular attention to the construction of “the spirit of the place” in his travel poetry. It begins by tracing the pre-existing cultural image of Italy within the British context prior to his journey, and then analyzes how the poet transcends immediate sensory perceptions of physical space, integrating personal memory, historical consciousness, and ethical reflection into his poetic composition, thereby constructing a multilayered poetic place. This study argues that both travel and poetry function as modes of spiritual and intellectual navigation for the later Wordsworth. Memorials is not merely a record of travel, but a profound meditation on how human beings dwell in place and how place shapes human beings through poetic imagination and reflection.