Wordsworth had for years been making plans to write a long philosophical poem in three parts, which he intended to call "The Recluse". In 1798–99 he started an autobiographical poem, which he referred to as the "poem to Coleridge" and which he planned would serve as an appendix to a larger work called "The Recluse". In 1804 he began expanding this autobiographical work, having decided to make it a prologue rather than an appendix. He completed this work, now generally referred to as the first version of "The Prelude", in 1805, but refused to publish such a personal work until he had completed the whole of "The Recluse". The death of his brother John, also in 1805, affected him strongly and may have influenced his decisions about these works.