LibriVox volunteers bring you 16 recordings of Old Man Travelling; Animal Tranquillity and Decay, a Sketch by William Wordsworth. This was the Fortnightly Poetry project for October 2, 2011.

In 1842 the government awarded Wordsworth a civil list pension amounting to £300 a year. With the death in 1843 of Robert Southey, Wordsworth became the Poet Laureate. He initially refused the honour, saying he was too old, but accepted when Prime Minister Robert Peel assured him "you shall have nothing required of you" (he became the only laureate to write no official poetry). When his daughter, Dora, died in 1847, his production of poetry came to a standstill. (Summary from Wikipedia)