William Wordsworth (April 7, 1770-April 23, 1850) was a poet laureate of England and one of the most important English Romantic poets. He was close friends with Samuel Taylor Coleridge, and at the onset of the 19th century, they collaborated on Lyrical Ballads, which marked the beginning of the English Romantic Movement. Some of his most influential works include The Excursion (1814); over five hundred sonnets, and his magnum opus, The Prelude (1850).