In order to better understand the views Wordsworth expresses in his preface to

Lyrical Ballads, it is helpful to be familiar with Wordsworth’s long

autobiographical poem, The Prelude. In this work, published after his death,
Wordsworth describes his genesis as a poet as well as the life experiences that
shaped the ideology of poetry that he expresses in the preface. As a child growing
up in the Lake District, Wordsworth was particularly sensitive to nature and loved
wandering outside by himself or with a few companions. He often felt deeply moved
by his experiences in the natural world; many of his poems, such as “Lines Written
a Few Miles Above Tintern Abbey,” reveal a deep affection for nature that shaped
his poetry. For instance, his love for nature guided him in choosing topics for his
poems: in the preface to Lyrical Ballads, Wordsworth reveals that part of the
reason he chose to write about the topics of “the common man” was because

in that condition the passions of men are incorporated with the beautiful and
permanent forms of nature.
While his love for nature led him to poetry, Wordsworth’s experiences in France
during the French Revolution shaped his poetic style and ambitions. The Revolution
inspired in him a deep enthusiasm for the ideals of equality, brotherhood, and
liberty that animated the revolutionaries; these ideals, in turn, inspired the
focus on the lower social classes that would characterize his poetry. While he
hoped to encourage greater harmony between the social classes in romanticizing the
life of common men, Wordsworth also found their “low and rustic” life to be the
ideal subject for poetry, as he explains in the preface to Lyrical Ballads. He
writes that he chose this topic because

in that condition of life our elementary feelings co-exist in a state of greater

simplicity, and, consequently, may be more accurately contemplated, and more
forcibly communicated . . .
Wordsworth and Coleridge not only emphasized the life of the average person in
their poems but also sought to imitate the “language really used by men.” In all of
this, the two poets set themselves the ambitious goal of changing the subject
matter and style of English poetry, and setting in motion a new movement of
literature—a movement toward “genuine poetry” that “give[s] other enjoyments, of a
purer, more lasting, and more exquisite nature” than that of their neoclassicist
contemporaries.

Wordsworth’s prediction that he and Coleridge would begin a new movement with
Lyrical Ballads was, in some respects, correct: many consider this collection of
poetry to be the beginning of Romanticism. Wordsworth’s passion for nature and
glorification of the common man are two main characteristics of the Romantic
literature. Additionally, Romanticism’s elevation of emotion over reason is
demonstrated in Wordsworth’s comparison of the poet to the “Man of Science”:

The Man of Science seeks truth as a remote and unknown benefactor; he cherishes and
loves it in his solitude: the Poet, singing a song in which all human beings join
with him, rejoices in the presence of truth as our visible friend and hourly
companion . . . . [The Poet] is the rock of defence of human nature . . .
In the preface, Wordsworth displays both the immense value he places on poetry and
the responsibility he believes poets have to their readers. Because poetry is
deeply rooted in human nature and common experience, Wordsworth argues that the
emotions championed by the Romantic movement unite people in a way that the truth
of the Enlightenment could not. Through his emphasis on common men and his hope to
turn upper classes in favor of them, Wordsworth demonstrates his belief that poetry
and the emotions expressed in it can change people’s perceptions and thus change
society—and that two poets can single-handedly alter the course of English
literature.

QUOTES
Quotes
Last Updated on November 13, 2019, by eNotes Editorial. Word Count: 642

The principal object, then, which I proposed to myself in these Poems was to chuse
incidents and situations from common life, and to relate or describe them,
throughout, as far as was possible, in a selection of language really used by men .
. .
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In this quote, Wordsworth explains the key difference between his poems in Lyrical
Ballads and those of his contemporaries. He directly challenges the school of
Augustan poetry that focuses on the deeds of great men, especially those from
classical literature: with his poetry, he aims to cast the “common” life in a
positive light in order to raise sympathy for people of lower classes.
Additionally, Wordsworth rejects using an exalted poetic language or diction. While
many critics of his day felt that the diction used in poetry should be more
elevated than that of prose, Wordsworth argues that the simpler language once
reserved for prose can—and should—be used in poetry as well.

I have said that Poetry is the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings: it takes
its origin from emotion recollected in tranquillity: the emotion is contemplated
till by a species of reaction the tranquillity gradually disappears, and an
emotion, kindred to that which was before the subject of contemplation, is
gradually produced, and does itself actually exist in the mind.
In this famous quote, Wordsworth analyzes the process of poetic creation: the poet
recalls and reflects upon an emotion until he begins to feel that emotion, and in
that state, he begins to write. Wordsworth goes on to warn that the emotion
recalled should bring pleasure to both the poet and the reader, and that no matter
what other emotions are expressed in the poet’s writing, there should be an
“overbalance of pleasure.” The value Wordsworth places on emotion throughout the
preface reflects the emphasis he and other writers would place on emotion over
reason and truth in the Romantic movement.

[The poet] considers man and nature as essentially adapted to each other, and the
mind of man as naturally the mirror of the fairest and most interesting qualities
of nature.
From a young age, Wordsworth loved and was fascinated by nature and human
interaction with it; the emotional solace humans can derive from nature is a
principal theme of many of his poems. This quote comes from a passage in which
Wordsworth reflects upon the nature and vocation of the poet. He compares the poet
to the “Man of Science,” noting that while the scientist’s pleasure comes from
slowly and independently acquired knowledge, poetry provides pleasure through
knowledge that “cleaves to us as a necessary part of our existence” and thus unites
mankind.

From what has been said, and from a perusal of the Poems, the Reader will be able
clearly to perceive the object which I have proposed to myself: he will determine
how far I have attained this object; and, what is a much more important question,
whether it be worth attaining; and upon the decision of these two questions will
rest my claim to the approbation of the public.
In this final passage of the preface, Wordsworth tasks his readers with judging
whether he has been successful in his goals to establish a new type of poetry—as
well as whether or not this was a worthy goal in the first place. Throughout the
preface, Wordsworth acknowledges the fact that his poetry differs greatly in both
topic and diction from other poetry of his time. He expresses concern that his
audience will condemn his poetry simply because it is not what they are accustomed
to. However, he feels that if they consider the poems of Lyrical Ballads for
themselves, not judging him by the condemnation of his critics or the poetic norms
of the day, they might discover a love for this new form of “genuine poetry.”
MAIN CONCEPT:
What is the main concept in "Preface to Lyrical Ballads" by William Wordsworth?
The main concept in “Preface to Lyrical Ballads” by William Wordsworth is that
poetry should reflect the language spoken by ordinary people. This represented a
radical departure from the prevailing practice, according to which poetry was
written in a very high-flown, consciously poetic language
Wordsworth's purpose is to explain the aesthetic concepts behind his poetry (and,
to a lesser extent, that of Coleridge). In so doing, the Preface articulates how
the poetry of the Romantics broke with the classical tradition of seventeenth- and
eighteenth- century poetry.

The crucial differences have to do with language and subject. Wordsworth sees his
poetry as the "metrical arrangement" of the "real language of men," and he believes
that its subject matter should be drawn from "common life." The function of poetry
is to reveal the "essential passions" underlying experience and to guide the reader
into those habits of mind that enable him to perceive the inherent beauty in nature
and everyday life.

Another purpose of the preface is to define the qualities that make a poet, and
defend the new poetic forms in Lyrical Ballads from criticism. A poet, Wordsworth
says, is a man with heightened sensitivity to the passions of life and, in
particular, who is able at times to imagine the feelings of common people as his
own. This empathetic ability is combined in the poet with the ability to translate
these feelings into language that is both evocative and pleasurable. In other
words, the poet, through his sensitivity, is able to capture strong emotion in his
poetry and through it make those emotions available to the reader. In this regard,
Wordsworth says, the primary business of poetry is the articulation of truth.

The "Preface to Lyrical Ballads" represents nothing short of a revolution in the

theory of poetry. In the "Preface," Wordsworth sets out how he thinks poetry should
be written as well as providing the reader with a justification of the poetry
contained in Lyrical Ballads.

The main idea in the Preface is the notion—radical for its time—that poetry should
be written in the language of ordinary men. That being the case, a poet is just “a
man speaking to men.” At the same time, Wordsworth seeks to employ his imagination
in presenting to the mind ordinary things “in an unusual way.”

In other words, the poems in the collection will be ballads in that they will be
like popular songs rooted in the lives of the common people but also lyrical in
that they will express personal feelings in a highly imaginative way. As Wordsworth
explains, he has chosen what he calls “low and rustic life” as a subject matter for
his poems because in that condition, the “essential passions of the heart” can
“speak a plainer and more emphatic language.”

On the face of it, there doesn't seem anything particularly groundbreaking about
Wordsworth's theory. Yet at the time when he wrote the Preface, the dominant strain
of English poetry was based on the notion that poems should be written in an
elevated style of language and that they should deal with the great and the good
rather than with the lives of ordinary folk.

Further Reading

In the Preface to Lyrical Ballads, Wordsworth wanted to express his theory of

poetry. The Preface is therefore a justification of that theory and of the themes
and styles of the poems in Lyrical Ballads.

One aspect of this theory was to use themes about common life (usually in rural
environments and situations involving a connection to nature). Thus, Wordsworth
wanted to explore how one could attain profound truths and sublime emotional
experiences via the imagination. In other words, this process is about
understanding the extraordinary while experiencing the ordinary.

Poetry is to be created out of these extraordinary/ordinary experiences. Poetry

will be the spontaneous overflow of emotion reflected in tranquility. The poet has
an experience and, reflecting on it later, can arrive at a deeper understanding
about that experience and about the act of reflection. The process of
experience/feeling and reflection is not just a method for poetic creation; it is
also Wordsworth's recommended method for experience in general.

Wordsworth wanted the style of Lyrical Ballads to stick with the common life theme.
He proposed to avoid personification and traditional poetic diction, favoring
instead more common (natural) language of people. In a sense, focusing on feeling
(lyrical) more than poetic form (i.e., a ballad), Wordsworth shifts the focus from
form to content. Although he was attempting a less formalistic poetry in favor of a
more natural (even more prose-like) poetry, he did note that verse was the best
form for conveying strong emotional content.

I might perhaps include all which it is necessaryto say upon this subject by
affirming, what few persons will deny, that, of two descriptions, either of
passions, manners, or characters, each of them equally well executed, the one in
prose and the other in verse, the verse will be read a hundred times where the
prose is read once.

One could easily argue that a poem (or a song) has a longer life in the memory than
a passage from a work of prose (i.e. a novel). This isn't just because a poem tends
to be a shorter work. It's also because of the cadence and rhythm, natural mnemonic
devices. In depicting poems about realistic, common people in rustic environments,
Wordsworth was rejecting the poetry of the past which tended to treat kings,
queens, and heroes in an overly regimented style. For Wordsworth, real people were
more relevant. More to the point, Wordsworth believed that sublime emotions can be
discovered in the experience and reflection of common experiences.

In other words, it can be inspiring to identify extraordinary virtue in a poem

about an extraordinary hero whose exploits are unbelievable to the point of being
legendary. Wordsworth supposed that (his main concept) it would also be inspiring,
more relevant, and more rewarding to identify extraordinary virtue in a poem about
ordinary life.
What are the main features of Wordsworth's "Preface" to Lyrical Ballads?
The main features of Wordsworth's "Preface" to Lyrical Ballads include an emphasis
on exalting the common person, the use of simple language, a focus on nature as an
expression of the divine, and a conviction that poetry should be lyrical or
emotional, expressing "the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings ...recollected
in tranquillity."

Wordsworth's "Preface" represents a radical break with eighteenth century

neoclassical poetry. Such poetry emphasized the deeds of great men and allusions to
works of classical antiquity. Instead of that, Wordsworth proposed that poetry
focus on depicting the ordinary person—poor, obscure, and laboring—in the most
positive light possible (in other words, it should "romanticize" such individuals).
While commonplace today, the idea of exalting the everyday person, usually either
ignored or represented as a "clown" in literature, was then an unusual concept.

Wordsworth, in his "Preface," also argued in favor of using simple language that
would be easily accessible to all people. He conceived of the poet in Miltonic
terms, as a person conveying the ways of God to men. Wordsworth envisioned the poet
as a type of priest, an intermediary with a special gift of translating or
interpreting the divine. This led him to an emphasis on nature, which Wordsworth
felt was an expression of the divine force made manifest, and an emphasis on
supernatural and folk tales, not much represented at the time in poetry.

The "Preface" also emphasized the importance of the lyrical or emotional. Instead
of poems celebrating great events, poetry, in Wordsworth's mind, should primarily
be a matter of conveying emotions. He famously said that poetry is:

the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings: it takes its origin from emotion
recollected in tranquillity.

Wordsworth's Preface to the Lyrical Ballads has been called a manifesto of

Romanticism. It thoroughly expounds many of the features and precepts of Romantic
verse. These include the following major points:

There is a focus on the everyday, in terms of people and incidents, and the use of
common language. Wordsworth says that it was his principal object to "choose
incidents and situations from common life, and to relate or describe them,
throughout, as far as was possible in a selection of language really used by men."
He goes on to say that he prefers humble or rustic subjects because in such
settings "the essential passions of the heart find a better soil in which they can
attain their maturity."

Wordsworth spends some time talking about the nature and character of the Poet (a
word he routinely capitalizes). He describes the Poet as "a man talking to men" but
says he has certain special gifts and abilities—"a greater knowledge of human
nature, and a more comprehensive soul" than most men. He compares the Poet's art
and specialized knowledge with that of lawyers, scientists, and other specialists.
While he admits that some of a Poet's art is dependent on technical skill, this is
a necessary rather than sufficient condition.

Wordsworth defends poetry, writes of the pleasure of meter, and explains his own
decision to write in this particular genre. He offers his own celebrated definition
of poetry: "the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings: it takes its origin from
emotion recollected in tranquillity."

In the Preface to Lyrical Ballads, Wordsworth outlines his main ideas about the
nature of poetry and defends his own poetic practices.

He argues for a poetry grounded in nature and in the lives of ordinary people,
especially the peasants, shepherds, and farmers living in rural areas. Unlike the
pastoral, Wordsworth's version of the countryside claims to be grounded in the real
lives of rural people rather than being an idealized rural backdrop to mythological
or courtly tales.

He argues for the importance of ordinary experience and of finding the sublime in
moments of ordinary time rather than in the unusual or extraordinary. He also
believes in using ordinary language, grounded in regular speech rather than relying
on exotic vocabulary and ornate figures of speech. He emphases the importance of
feeling over ideas. He does not, however, reject the literary tradition but rather
sees himself as returning to its roots in the common human experience and helping
people reconnect with emotions and the ordinary beauties and moments of joy we
experience.

I think that one of the main features of Wordsworth's Preface is to outline his
fundamental beliefs about the nature and construction of poetry. This consists of
analyzing three distinct features to poetic construction that he believes lies at
the essence of the Romantic credo. The subject matter of poetry is one of these
features. Wordsworth suggests that the idea of country life, simplicity in nature,
is of vital importance. It is here where poetry must emphasize its power. In
doing so, Wordsworth believes that poetry speaks to the basic idea of expressing
the joy in living, reveling in what is seen every day. In this, Wordsworth
outlines the feature of emotional connection that is a part of the poetic
experience. The belief of poetry being the "spontaneous overflow of emotion" is of
critical importance. Poetry has to be seen as a mode of expression where the
emotion of the poet guides the exploration and articulation of the subject matter.
In both of these, Wordsworth feels that poetry will be able to capture the
imagination of the reader. This becomes the third feature of the Preface,
suggesting quite clearly that there is an emotional and thoughtful experience
within poetry that is meant to unify both realms. Poetry is the source of unity in
a world of fragmentation and division, accomplishing one of the central tenets of
Romanticism.
MORE
Wordsworth argues many things, one of which is that he cannot argue a proper
defense of his poetry, "Poems so materially different from those [of] general
approbation," in a space proportionate to a volume of poems the size of Lyrical
Ballads. In this Preface, he does argue two central points about his theory, his
aesthetic, of poetry. One argument is the purpose of his poetry; the other is the
style of his poetry.

Wordsworth asserts every poem in the Ballads has a "worthy purpose" and that
purpose is that through his poetry we might "discover what is really important to
men." Thus he echoes the ancient idea of an inspired poet who brings enlightenment
to humans. Wordsworth expects to accomplish this by poems that are inspired by
nature and that have language "associated with the great and beautiful objects of
nature." His motive is to "counteract" the influence of poems that are "deluges of
idle and extravagant stories in verse."

His other argument is to defend the style of his poetry. While Aristotle's poetics,
held to by every generation up to Wordsworth, advice characters who are noble,
though not unflawed, and subjects that are great and important and of weighty
substance, Wordsworth's new poetics advances the value of common, everyday
characters from pastoral, "rural life" and natural lifestyles. "Low" language
describes low subjects of those who face elemental survival with "passions of the
heart [that] find a better soil." Wordsworth concedes that the language of rural
living must be purified and made aesthetic before it can be used, yet claims if has
intercourse with nature:

["Low" language must be] (purified indeed from what appear to be its real defects,
from all lasting and rational causes of dislike or disgust) [though it is]
incorporated with the beautiful and permanent forms of nature.

In summary, Wordsworth asserts that he writes with the dual intention of [1]
counteracting the base turn literary art has taken that depends on gross
emotionalism and sensationalism and [2] idealizing the rural, or pastoral,
qualities of life and commonplace struggles along with the commonplace, sometimes
vulgar and defective, expressions of language and thought. Coleridge came to
disagree with him because, as Coleridge points out, it takes a poet to turn vulgar
reality to the poetic commonplace though Wordsworth denied doing so materially
discounted the commonplace low poetic diction he strove for. One of the premiere
examples of Wordsworthian success in this new poetic is The Ruined Cottage.

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ALEC CRANFORD
| CERTIFIED EDUCATOR
Wordsworth makes several crucial points about poetry in his preface to Lyrical
Ballads. He suggests that the most authentic poetry is that which engages with
everyday experience, particularly in nature. This theme is reflected throughout the
book of poems, where he emphasizes the power and beauty of the natural world, free
from human artifice. Wordsworth also says that good poetry should speak to emotion,
reflecting a spirit of deep and profound meditation. He claims that many devices
used by poets (e.g. personification, off-kilter wording, and so on) distracted
readers from the feelings that should lie at the heart of the poem. So he proposes
to strip poetry down, so to speak, to its basics, in a language that can be
understood and appreciated by a wide readership. The crux of his approach to
poetry, especially in Lyrical Ballads, is summarized in the following passage:

The principal object, then, proposed in these Poems was to choose incidents and
situations from common life, and to relate or describe them, throughout, as far as
was possible in a selection of language really used by men, and, at the same time,
to throw over them a certain colouring of imagination, whereby ordinary things
should be presented to the mind in an unusual aspect...

How does William Wordsworth link imagination to poetry in his "Preface to Lyrical
Ballads"

Lyrical Ballads was first published in 1798. Co-authors William Wordsworth and
Samuel Taylor Coleridge broke a lot of new ground and created a quite revolutionary
text. Before what is termed the Romantic Period, poetry was defined by and praised
for its stringent format, obvious and convoluted syntax (sentence structure and
word order), and lofty topic choice. The Ideal poem adhered to a very set meter,
rhyme scheme, and / or line length. Furthermore, the Ideal poem adhered to very
specific subject matter that tended to be focused more toward “high” art and
society (some good examples of this are Alexander Pope’s “The Rape of the Lock” and
John Donne’s Meditations). Though imagination is certainly inherent in any creative
text, the authors of Lyrical Ballads were of the opinion that such stringent
control of a poem limited imagination. And they set out to change this.

Wordsworth and Coleridge believed that poetry should be accessible to all people,
that it should be stripped of the convoluted mystery that surrounded it, and that
it first and foremost should focus upon the everyday / average person’s experience.
When one begins to think of poetry in these terms, it opens up a new and unexplored
world.

There are several points in the “Preface” to Lyrical Ballads that highlight
precisely how Wordsworth interpreted imagination:

Poetry as the “spontaneous overflow of powerful feeling”: Wordsworth here describes

his notion of poetry as something that is not highly structured or pre-determined
by tradition. Rather, he thinks of poetry as something that should flow naturally,
spontaneously, from the writer. This is certainly the core of imagination. Without
trying to fit in a pre-determined format and without censoring thought and subject
matter, the writer is free to use his / her imagination in a way they previously
weren’t.

Poetry as “emotion recollected in tranquility”: This description encourages the

writer of poetry to 1) rely heavily upon emotion, and 2) take time to revisit the
time and place in which that emotion occurred. Such an opinion focuses more upon
the writer’s own emotions, upon the writer’s imagination, rather than upon a strict
adherence to any particular form or structure. The substance of the poem becomes
the content and the feeling it creates rather than the structure and format it
follows.

Poetry should be written in the “real language of men”: Here Wordsworth makes a
very bold statement for his time – poems should be accessible to all people. How
often have we read a poem and been overwhelmed by the dense and convoluted
language? When we encounter a poem like that, does it move us in any way? Are we
able to take pleasure in it? Or even understand it? If we aren’t able to do any of
those things, how is our imagination piqued? Wordsworth calls on poets to use
accessible, everyday language in order to make poetry more relatable to the
audience – and when an audience engages with a text, there is a shared imagination
between poet and reader that did not previously exit.

The above are only three examples from the “Preface” to Lyrical Ballads which
demonstrate the crucial role imagination plays in the entire text. Reading the
poems, you will see the ways in which both authors put these tenets into effect.
Lyrical Ballads is a seminal text which greatly determined much of literature that
came after it by encouraging a movement toward the emotional and imaginative
aspects of art and human experience.

Can preface to lyrical ballads be considered as a manifesto of romantic criticism?

Yes, the Preface to Lyrical Ballads can be understood as a manifesto of Romantic
criticism. In it, Wordsworth lays out his vision for a new kind of poetry, a poetry
that sets itself in opposition to the Neo-Classical verse of writers, such as John
Dryden and Alexander Pope. Neo-Classic poetry relied on models provided by the
writers of Ancient Greece and Rome. It also used very regular, measured rhyme
schemes, often employing heroic couplets, and showed emotional restraint and
rationalism. It often focused on heroic, aristocratic individuals: the great men of
the world.

In contrast, Wordsworth (and Coleridge, though he later repudiated the Preface)

envision a new kind of poetry. Influenced by revolutionary current, especially in
France, and ideals of liberty, fraternity, and equality, the Preface extolls a
poetry that celebrates the best in the lives of common people. It calls for using
simple, everyday language and for the abandonment of rigid rhyme schemes. It
celebrates nature, as well as the folkloric and the supernatural. It puts a strong
emphasis on feeling and advocates for capturing emotions "recollected in
tranquility."

Much of this type of poetry seems completely commonplace to us now, but at the time
it represented a new direction. It did not arise in a vacuum: poets such as Gray
and Cowper were already heading down this path, but it crystallized a set of poetic
ideas in a way that had a great impact on a new generation of poets.

Indeed, the Preface can be considered a type of manifesto of Romanticism. It

serves a declaration of intent as to what Wordsworth and Coleridge see as the
direction of Romanticism as a movement. The idea of being able to construct
language and meaning in a different way, one that features a "certain colouring of
imagination," helps to reconfigure how these thinkers were going to change the role
of art and the artist in its creation. The Preface goes a long way in being able
to provide a sense of structure to Romanticism. The entire tone of the Preface is
declaratory. There is little in way of complexity offered. It is a statement, a
bold and constructive element that makes no hesitation about its intent to change
people's minds about how they view art and how individuals view themselves. In
this light, one can see this as a manifesto of Romanticism.

Please analyze Wordsworth's definition of poetry from his Preface to the "Lyrical
Ballads." "Poetry is the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings: it takes its
origin from emotion recollected in tranquility."
Wordsworth's preface to the Lyrical Ballads is a long, complex statement about the
nature of Romantic poetry. This single sentence makes an important point about
Wordsworth's view of poetry, both that it is a powerful outflow of emotion and
something which should be reflected on after the event.
In stark contrast to his neoclassical predecessors, Wordsworth believed that
emotions constitute the ultimate foundation of poetry. Neoclassical poets tended to
distrust the emotions, seeing them as unruly and out of control, certainly not the
appropriate raw material out of which well-made poems should be constructed.

But in the “Preface” to Lyrical Ballads, Wordsworth puts emotion front and center
of the poetic craft. He regards the emotions as nothing less than the wellspring of
poetry. Poetry ultimately comes from the heart, not, as neoclassical poets
believed, from the head. Simply put, without deep emotions and powerful feelings,
it is impossible to write poetry.

Even so, poems must also have an intellectual component to them. Emotions may form
the raw material of a poem, but they still need to be tempered and controlled by
the intellect. In that sense, the ideal poem is a synthesis of the heart and the
head, of the emotions and the intellect.

That's what Wordsworth means by “emotion recollected in tranquility”. It's not

enough that one has emotions—though that's certainly, as we've seen, a vital
prerequisite for writing poetry—one must also engage in deep thinking. For
Wordsworth, it is this fusion of profound thought and profound emotions that
creates great poetry.

Further Reading

https://www.enotes.com/topics/preface
LAST UPDATED BY ENOTES EDITORIAL ON FEBRUARY 5, 2021
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COLIN CAVENDISH-JONES, PH.D.
| CERTIFIED EDUCATOR
Wordsworth's famous statement about poetry from the preface to the Lyrical Ballads
differs significantly from that of Coleridge, his collaborator and fellow Romantic,
who more conventionally declared that, while prose consists of putting words in
their best order, poetry is "the best words in the best order."

Coleridge's definition highlights what is missing from Wordsworth's: any element of

skill, craft or virtuosity. The nearest Wordsworth comes to this is in his concept
of "tranquility." This can be taken as an admission that any "spontaneous overflow
of powerful feelings" cannot necessarily be described as poetry. If this were the
case, anyone who shouted with pain when he stubbed his toe would count as a poet.
The poet must create something out of the emotion, and tranquility is necessary to
work and concentrate.

The preface to the Lyrical Ballads, however, is a complex piece of writing, and it
is full of references to and definitions of poetry, poets, and poems. This single
sentence must be taken in context and balanced with the many other things
Wordsworth says about poets and poetry. In particular, Wordsworth is very clear
that a poet is not the same as other people. In another well-known passage, he
writes:

What is a Poet? to whom does he address himself? and what language is to be

expected from him?—He is a man speaking to men: a man, it is true, endowed with
more lively sensibility, more enthusiasm and tenderness, who has a greater
knowledge of human nature, and a more comprehensive soul, than are supposed to be
common among mankind.

This description and many others must be taken into account in understanding
Wordsworth's definition of poetry, and of Romantic poetry in particular. Romantic
poetry is emotion recollected in tranquility, but it is a myriad of other things
besides this.

LAST UPDATED BY ENOTES EDITORIAL ON FEBRUARY 5, 2021

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D. REYNOLDS
| CERTIFIED EDUCATOR
As Coleridge and Wordsworth met and walked the countryside together in the late
1790s, they talked excitedly about the theory and meaning of poetry. Both had been
political radicals, but with the French Revolution having gone bad and the French
and the English heading towards war, the two men turned from radicalism to the
importance of a way of living and writing that gave primacy to the emotions.

Wordsworth, especially, had been shattered by his experiences in France during the
revolution, but he still, as he expressed later in his autobiographical poem The
Prelude, wanted to stand up for the common man. He thought he could do this by
capturing emotional moments that depicted the simple working person in a positive,
sympathetic light.

In the preface, Wordsworth famously described the goal of this new kind of poetry,
a radical break from the measured, rational Neoclassical poetry of the 18th century
in which emotions were downplayed. He wanted, as this quote expresses, to capture
the intensity of emotions. But he didn't want his poems simply to be an
embarrassing gush of raw feelings: he wanted to express the emotions from a place
of tranquility or calm, to ponder them and then recreate them from a distance.
Thus, his poems, such as "I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud" or "The Solitary Reaper"
often end with the narrator happily recollecting the deep emotions the poem
describes.

This often quoted sentiment from Wordsworth speaks directly to both his beliefs as
a poet and a thinker of Romanticism. The quote speaks to how Wordsworth feels
poetry is to be created. In stark contrast to the Neoclassical period which
preceded Romanticism and was driven by wit and a sense of the intellectual,
Wordsworth believes poetry as something to be created from the realm of the
subjective. The idea of a "spontaneous overflow" drives home the notion of the
affect in both poetry and the creation of it. While the mind does possess a role
in this state of being, the artist must be in a synchronized mode with their
consciousness from an affect point of view. This is enhanced with the idea of
recalling this emotional state from a point of recollection in tranquility,
implying that the poet or artist cannot engage in this profess of reflection and
rumination from a position in traditional and conformist society.

What is the subject matter of poetry according to Wordsworth?

According to Wordsworth, the subject matter of poetry comes from the passions and
emotions of human beings, the events of human life, and the natural world.
Wordsworth prefers to write about common situations and events in the language of
common people. Further, he believes that poetry allows powerful human feelings to
overflow.
According to William Wordsworth in his Preface to Lyrical Ballads, poets draw their
subject matter from the passions and emotions of human beings, from the events of
human life, and from the natural world. Poetry, he asserts, “is the image of men
and nature,” and the poet “considers man in his own nature and in his ordinary
life,” looking upon the “complex scene of ideas and sensations” as well as the
“great and beautiful objects of nature” that excite the passions of human beings.

For Wordsworth, the key phrase in the broad definition above is “ordinary life.” He
believes that poets should work with “incidents and situations from common life”
and use the language of common people to describe them. Rustic life, he explains,
is closer to nature and to the “essential passions” of the human heart. Its
language is “plainer and more emphatic,” and it better expresses human feelings and
experiences with simplicity and clarity.

Poetry, Wordsworth, further asserts “is the spontaneous overflow of powerful

feelings,” so its subject matter naturally presents the heights and depths of human
emotion. The poet has reflected upon these passions, remembering them in the calm
of his heart, until they burst forth into poetry that explores and captures the
“state of excitement” that arises from feelings and ideas.

Wordsworth chooses his own poetic subject matter according to these qualifications.
A glance through Lyrical Ballads reveals poems like “Poor Susan” with its focus on
the outcast Susan taking some comfort in the beauty of nature. “The Childless
Father” captures a village morning while at the same time reflecting on a father
who has lost his child yet must keep living. Wordsworth's famous “Lines Written a
Few Miles above Tintern Abbey” delves into the wonders of nature and the ability of
the natural world to excite the human mind and heart.

What is Wordsworth's theory of poetry?

Wordsworth’s theory of poetry represents a radical departure from the standards of
neoclassical verse. Neoclassical poets believed, among other things, that poetry
should be written about noble, high-born characters. As poems were generally
written for an elite, literate audience, it was not thought appropriate to populate
poems with ordinary folk. According to the prevailing aesthetic, poems should be
written about the more socially prominent members of society.

Wordsworth challenged this notion completely. In his own theory of poetry, as set
out comprehensively in the 1802 preface to Lyrical Ballads, he argued for the
representation of ordinary people in verse. Wordsworth believed that as poetry was
concerned with the spontaneous overflow of feelings, then it was only right and
proper that ordinary folk should be represented in poetry. After all, they had
emotions and feelings too; they also had, in many cases, a deep connection with the
natural world, which for Wordsworth the Romantic was a vital source of poetic
inspiration.

Wordsworth also maintained that poetic language should change, sloughing off the
ornamental, affected style of Neoclassical verse in favor of a language much closer
to how people actually spoke. In fact, Wordsworth boldly proclaimed that there was
no essential difference between the language of prose and that of metrical
composition. Poetry, no less than prose, consists of a man speaking to other men.

Further Reading

https://www.enotes.com/topics/preface
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OCTAVIA CORDELL
| CERTIFIED EDUCATOR
Wordsworth outlined several ideas about poetry in his preface to Lyrical Ballads.
First, he believed that nature was the best subject for poetry. Second, he thought
that the purpose of poetry was to give voice to the emotion the contemplation of
nature aroused in the poet (the "spontaneous overflow of powerful emotions").
Third, he thought that poetic language should be simple and close to the language
of everyday people. Fourth, he believed that the moral or spiritual content of
poetry should follow naturally from the poetic subject.

This all stands in contrast to the Enlightenment tradition of English poetry,

represented by men like Alexander Pope. In that tradition, poetry was seen as a
form of public discourse, was often satirical and explicitly political, and could
be highly allusive and based on classical themes. Wordsworth sought to make poetry
more personal, less intellectual, more connected to the common man, and more
emotionally sincere.

As a result, he chose "rustic" subject matter for his poetry because in this topic,

the essential passions of the heart find a better soil in which they can attain
their maturity, are less under restraint, and speak a plainer and more emphatic
language.

It also followed that the best language for poetry is that of the common man,
which,

arising out of repeated experience and regular feelings, is a more permanent, and a
far more philosophical language, than that which is frequently substituted for it
by Poets.

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JASON LULOS
| CERTIFIED EDUCATOR
In the first statement of the 1802 edition, Wordsworth says the poems in Lyrical
Ballads are an experiment of "fitting to metrical arrangement a selection of the
real language of men in a state of vivid sensation." So, one of the goals that
Wordsworth has with this collection of poems is to use real language. In other
words, he wants to make poetry from the language that people actually use. This was
an attempt to get away from the formal style of his predecessors, namely the
Neoclassical poets such as Alexander Pope. And the "vivid sensation" appeals to the
poet's provocation of emotion rather than the more rational style of something like
Pope's "An Essay on Man."

Wordsworth also focused on the common man and this goes along with his focus on
real or common language. Now, his poetry is still poetic, so to speak, but it was a
shift from poetry as a formal, structured poetics to something more common and
emotive. He wanted to explore how ordinary events and feelings could be understood
in extraordinary ways. He chose to focus on rural settings and people and to
explore their feelings "because the manners of rural life germinate from those
elementary feelings; and, from the necessary character of rural occupations, are
more easily comprehended, and are more durable; and lastly, because in that
condition the passions of men are incorporated with the beautiful and permanent
forms of nature." Thus, Wordsworth also was enchanted by the emotive and
transcendent power of nature. The natural world, the rural lifestyle, and the
realness of language and feelings were all inspirational elements for Wordsworth's
new theory of poetry. This is why Wordsworth could write a poem about a cloud in
which he contemplates nature, his existence, and his role as a poet.

Since Wordsworth was tapping into "real language" and more common subjects
(rendered in imaginative, extraordinary ways), he notes that some of his poems
might be as easily read as prose. He is not trying to erase the line between prose
and poetry, but he is illustrating how his brand of poetry does utilize a more
free, prose style while still presented in poetic verse. And he notes that any
subject is more likely to be read in poetic form, " . . . the one in prose and the
other in verse, the verse will be read a hundred times where the prose is read
once." Such is the accessibility of poetry and such would be the accessibility of
Wordsworth's subject matter: common life and language.

Lastly, Wordsworth's theory about writing poetry is often summed up as writing from
the spontaneous overflow of emotion reflected in tranquility. The poet should
contemplate the simple things, nature or rural life, but he should allow himself to
be emotionally affected by the deep significance of such things:
I have said that Poetry is the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings: it takes
its origin from emotion recollected in tranquility: the emotion is contemplated
till by a species of reaction the tranquility gradually disappears, and an emotion,
kindred to that which was before the subject of contemplation, is gradually
produced, and does itself actually exist in the mind.

Discuss Wordsworth's views on poetic diction in "Preface to Lyrical Ballads".

Wordsworth wants the diction used in poetry to match the diction people use in
their actual lives. He says that, in the volume which follows this preface, the
reader will but rarely find abstract ideas personified because he wishes to do
nothing to "elevate the style" of the poetry or to "raise it above prose."
Wordsworth finds great value in common language that anyone can use and understand.
He writes, "My purpose was to imitate, and, as far as possible, to adopt the very
language of men [...]." Moreover, he wants "to keep the Reader in the company of
flesh and blood [...]." So we see that he will not use poetic diction, but, rather,
he will use the language that people use to speak every day. The diction will be
conversational, not elevated, and, in this way, he hopes to reach wider audiences
with his work, to inspire greater numbers of people with it (and not just those
individuals who have received educations which permit them to understand the
loftier expressions used by other poets). He admits that he does sometimes use
figurative language, but Wordsworth strives to keep his poems accessible to the
average person through their diction.

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ALEC CRANFORD
| CERTIFIED EDUCATOR
Essentially, Wordsworth denied that there should be such a thing as a diction
specific to poetry. He thought that artifical poetic diction used by many writers
obscured the sentiment and feeling that ought to be the focus of poetry. Rather
than ornate, basically ornamental language, Wordsworth thought the diction of prose
and the diction of poetry should be the same:

It may be safely affirmed, that there neither is, nor can be, any essential
difference between the language of prose and metrical composition.

Wordsworth went even further, asserting that poetry ought to be written in the
"language really spoken by men," which would accentuate the emotive power of the
works by giving them more authenticity. In short, he hoped to strip away what he
saw as the pretensions and stuffiness of poetry as it had been written by his
predecessors, and his views on diction were central to this project.
How might one analyse Preface to Lyrical Ballads by William Wordsworth?
Expert Answers
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JOANN WENTWORTH
| CERTIFIED EDUCATOR
I find it helpful to consider the Preface as a sort of "statement of intent" where
Wordsworth explains what he hopes to achieve in his poetry and what he believes all
poets should strive for in their own work.

One of the most famous lines from the Preface states that "all good poetry is the
spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings . . . it takes its origin from emotion
recollected in tranquillity." Here, Wordsworth upsets the notion that poetry is
about form, meter, line breaks, figurative language, etc., claiming instead that
it's the inspiring thoughts and emotions of the poet that form the heart of the
poem. The idea of "emotion recollected in tranquillity" suggests that the poet must
somehow exist beyond the common daily routines that comprise a person's life,
reaching for "truth" by seeking quietness and equanimity in order to recreate prior
experiences. As Wordsworth says, "The Poet, singing a song in which all human
beings join with him, rejoices in the presence of truth as our visible friend and
hourly companion."

In analyzing the Preface, it's also important to note that it's written in prose,
though it's about poetry! Here, we see Wordsworth's idea of poetry as representing
"ordinary people" and "ordinary lives" come to fruition. Rather than writing in
rigid metrical patterns or set poetic forms, Wordsworth blends both poetry and
prose in the Preface in order to announce his "new" way of thinking about poetry.
Neither writing style is "superior" to another, for both allow the writer to allow
his imagination to tap into emotion that then "spontaneously overflows" onto the
page. Wordsworth's idea that poetry is "about the people" and "for the people" is
literally represented in the manner in which he writes the Preface, blending both
prose and poetry together to create a democratic definition of art.

While the Preface is quite lengthy, it's a fascinating insight into Wordsworth's
own artistic manifesto. Whether or not you agree with his ideas, you must admit
that he's certainly spent a lot of time considering the purpose and value of
literature and exploring ways to experiment with and broaden the poetic form.

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ASHLEY KANNAN
| CERTIFIED EDUCATOR
I think that one approach that can be taken in analyzing Wordsworth's Preface is to
examine how he is able to articulate the theoretical foundations to Romanticism
within it. This becomes one of the most valuable aspects to the Preface.
Wordsworth and Coleridge were able to use it as a manifesto for Romanticism. They
were able to carve out the definition to Romanticism. The movement needed
definition as it was a stark departure from the tenets of Neoclassicism. The
Preface can be analyzed as a work of Romanticism because it is so direct in wishing
to define the movement. Some of the movement's most important words can be found
in the Preface, and it is in this idea where one can devote much in way of
analysis.

Wordsworth and Coleridge were deliberate in wishing to reconceptualize what poetry

and art should be according to the Romantic sensibilities. Consider the ideas of
what poetry should encompass as part of this exploration in the Preface. The
establishment of poetry as the “spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings" was one
of the defining characteristics of Romanticism. Another instance of Wordsworth
being able to use the Preface as a way to define poetry would be in praising the
subject matter as every day life. The ordinary could be seen as extraordinary for
it contained the spirit of life within it. Romanticism came to strictly adhere to
many of the standards in the Preface. Examining the Preface for its definitions of
Romanticism is one avenue to pursue. Analyzing language that sought to define
Romanticism in the Preface can be an approach one can take in studying it and being
able to unearth its literary and intellectual relevance.