FIRST, the Poems are arranged in chronological order of composition, not of publication. In all the collective editions issued by Wordsworth during his lifetime, the arrangement of his poems in artificial groups, based on their leading characteristics--a plan first adopted in 1815--was adhered to; although he not unfrequently transferred a poem from one group to another. Here they are printed, with one or two exceptions to be afterwards explained, in the order in which they were written. SECOND, the changes of text made by Wordsworth in the successive editions of his Poems, are given in footnotes, with the dates of the changes. THIRD, suggested changes, written by the Poet on a copy of the stereotyped edition of 1836-7--long kept at Rydal Mount, and bought, after Mrs. Wordsworth's death, at the sale of a portion of the Library at the Mount--are given in footnotes. FOURTH, the Notes dictated by Wordsworth to Miss Isabella Fenwick--a dear friend of the Rydal Mount household, and a woman of remarkable character and faculty--which tell the story of his Poems, and the circumstances under which each was written, are printed in full. FIFTH, Topographical Notes--explanatory of allusions made by Wordsworth to localities in the Lake District of England, to places in Scotland, Somersetshire, Yorkshire, the Isle of Man, and others on the Continent of Europe--are given, either at the close of the Poem in which the allusions occur, or as footnotes to the passages they illustrate. SIXTH, several complete Poems, and other fragments of verse, not included in any edition of his Works published during Wordsworth's lifetime, or since, are printed as an appendix to Volume VIII. SEVENTH, a new Bibliography of the Poems and Prose Works, and of the several editions issued in England and America, from 1793 to 1850, is added. EIGHTH, a new Life of the Poet is given. These features of the edition of 1882-6 are preserved in that of 1896, and the following are added: FIRST, The volumes are published, not in library 8vo size, but--as the works of every poet should be issued--in one more convenient to handle, and to carry. Eight volumes are devoted to the Poetical Works, and among them are included those fragments by his sister Dorothy, and others, which Wordsworth published in his lifetime among his own Poems. They are printed in the chronological order of composition, so far as that is known.