Conclusion

Abstract The Conclusion develops some broader claims about unremembered pleasure by considering Wordsworth’s retrospection across his authorship. Beginning from Paul de Man’s concerns over romantic nostalgia, it traces some varieties of nostalgia from the eighteenth century to the present. In opposition to nostalgic longing, it suggests that Wordsworth’s retrospection might be understood as a form of underdetermined attachment, freed from the expectation of possession or recovery. Returning to the comparative questions raised in the Introduction, it reflects on the ways that romanticism and psychoanalysis might continue to inform one another while remaining distinct traditions of writing. Finally, it returns to the question of affective education, tracing the prospect of ‘learning to love’ through Wordsworth’s writing.