This rereading of Wordworth's The Prelude, in light of post-structuralist and feminist theory, is the first study of the poem from both a Wordsworthian and feminist viewpoint. Through close examination of Romantic autobiography, theatrical politics, and history Jacobus discusses Romantic attitudes toward language, figuration, and voice, analyzing the role of gender in Romantic self-expression and pedagogy. She considers different aspects of the high Romanticism exemplified by The Prelude, and explores the writing of Burke, Rousseau, Hazlitt, Lamb, and De Quincey in relation to literary influence, New Historicism, and the gender-related aspects of Romantic criticism.