Hello and welcome to the Discourse. Lyrical Ballads, published in 1798, is a landmark collection of poems by William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge that is often credited with launching the Romantic movement in English literature. The Romantic Period began roughly around 1798 and lasted until 1837. The collection's preface, primarily written by Wordsworth, is a seminal statement of Romantic poetic theory. It outlines the poets' aims, which included using everyday language, focusing on the lives and feelings of ordinary people, and finding beauty and meaning in the natural world. The poems themselves showcase this approach, moving away from the polished formality of Augustan poetry toward a more natural and expressive style. Wordsworth's contributions focus on simple subjects and common experiences, exploring themes of nature, memory, and emotion. Coleridge's contributions tend to be more supernatural or fantastical, showcasing his interest in the supernatural and the imagination. The first edition of Lyrical Ballads was published anonymously in 1798. Wordsworth added his name to the title page of the second edition in 1800, after the book's success. He also included a preface in the second edition, titled "The Advertisement", in which he explained the poets' intentions and their revolutionary approach to poetry. ‘The Advertisement’ was then published as ‘Preface to Lyrical Ballads’ with two new definitions in the later edition of Lyrical Ballads in 1802.
Wordsworth saw Augustan poetry, with its emphasis on reason, order, and wit, as artificial and detached from genuine human emotion and experience. He criticized its formal constraints, its focus on polished diction and heroic subjects, and its lack of connection to the natural world and the lives of ordinary people. He famously championed a more natural and spontaneous style, advocating for the use of everyday language and the portrayal of common people and their experiences. In his Preface to Lyrical Ballads, Wordsworth articulated his belief that poetry should arise from genuine emotion and should focus on the everyday experiences of ordinary people. This contrasted sharply with the Augustan emphasis on artificiality, formality, and the portrayal of idealized heroes. He found Augustan poetry to lack emotional depth and authenticity, favoring instead the artificiality of wit and cleverness over the power of direct emotional expression. He particularly criticized the use of elevated language and elaborate metaphors that he felt distanced the reader from the poem's meaning and emotional impact. Wordsworth's rejection of Augustan poetic conventions was a pivotal moment in the development of Romantic poetry, establishing a new direction for poetic expression that emphasized emotion, imagination, and the beauty of the natural world. In poetry in the Augustan age, or the Neo-classical age, the focus of poetic diction was mainly on rationality, it was mechanical, impersonal, and artificial. Contrastingly, Romanticism developed as a spontaneous movement where the emphasis was on spontaneity and originality.
Importance of Preface to Lyrical Ballads:
The Preface to Lyrical Ballads is not merely an introduction to a collection of poems; it is a powerful and influential statement of literary theory that continues to shape our understanding of poetry and its role in society. In this essay, William Wordsworth stresses four pertaining questions; ‘What is Poetry?’, ‘What are the Characteristics of a Good Poet?, ‘What is the Value of Poetry in the current modern and scientific world?’, and ‘What is Poetic Diction?’
Wordsworth’s Views
Wordsworth begins by explaining that the first edition of Lyrical Ballads was published as a sort of experiment to test the public reception of poems that use “the real language of men in a state of vivid sensation.” The experiment was successful, better than Wordsworth was expecting, and many were pleased with the poems. Then he acknowledges that his friend (Samuel Taylor Coleridge) supplied several poems in the collection, including Rime of the Ancient Mariner. He then relates that he and his friends wish to start a new type of poetry, poetry of the sort seen in Lyrical Ballads.
What is Poetry?
According to Wordsworth, “All good poetry is the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings recollected in tranquility.” He emphasizes the role of a rational mind where the emotions, that a poet goes through are thought over repeatedly and continuously, and they are delivered, only when they are ripe enough to be delivered. The idea is not to release raw emotions out to the world, the idea is to “recollect emotions in tranquility.” In a way, Wordsworth incorporates the rationality of the Augustan age while emphasizing the need for originality. He is clubbing the two together by saying that a perfect combination of poetry has emotions thought over radically, and rationally, over a period, and then reproduced in tranquility. He says that ‘Poetry is not about craftsmanship or artistry, it is about genuine and sincere feelings.” In the Augustan age, the stress was on the elevated language, on how to beautify the language of poetry to make it stand out above the rest. But according to Wordsworth, even if poetry is written in simple language, it should express genuine and sincere feelings and that is what will make good poetry.
He argues that poetry arises from intense feeling, not from conscious effort or artificial contrivance. This was William Wordsworth's own practice of writing a poem. According to him, “Such poetry touches the deepest cause of human heart.” A poet can experience the beauty of ordinary life and capture those feelings. He sits in a peaceful place and recollects those powerful feelings that he experienced. He contemplates, thinks over them, and finally, with the help of his imagination he writes a beautiful poem.
Characteristics of a Good Poet
Wordsworth defines three characteristics of a perfect poet. Some of his ideas match Philip Sidney’s ‘Apology of Poetry’ also known as ‘Defense of Poetry’ in which Sir Philip Sidney discussed poetry and the role of the poet.
According to Wordsworth, ‘A poet should be exceptionally sensitive’, in the sense not only to what happens to him but also what happens around him. He feels not only what he is suffering but also what others are suffering. A good poet has a more comprehensive soul than other human beings. This allows him not only to feel what happens to him but also to feel what happens to other human beings. He can empathize and feel the pain or happiness of others.
Secondly, A good poet is ‘a man speaking to men.’ This reiterates Philip Sidney’s idea who stated that a poet is a great man who can take care of society. Wordsworth says that a good poet’s poetry is not of self-indulgence but has a social responsibility to teach and correct men’s feelings. According to Wordsworth, a poet does not write poems for self-indulgence but to uplift and enlighten other human beings. Wordsworth said that every great poet is a teacher. Philip Sidney mentioned that poetry is a medium to ‘teach and delight.’
The third Characteristic of a poet is that he should have an extraordinarily strong Imagination so that he is affected by things even if they are not present around him. Even if something is happening away from him, he should have a strong imagination so that he can imagine the suffering, pain, or happiness of those people, and as a result, he can produce effective poetry. William Wordsworth believed that imagination is what makes poetry beautiful.
Value of Poetry
In the Preface, Wordsworth mentions, ‘The end of poetry is to produce excitement in co-existence with an overbalance of pleasure.’ The objective of poetry, according to Wordsworth, is ‘accurate reflection.’ He focuses on the language of poetry because it adds to the universal function of poetry. Even though it was the period of the Industrial Revolution, Wordsworth didn’t limit the importance of poetry, rather he says that science and poetry should go hand in hand to maintain a balance. Wordsworth says that poetry humanizes the readers. The universal function of poetry is to make human beings more sensitive and humane. Poetry does not merely provide pleasure but also teaches moral and philosophical values to the readers. In this materialistic age, the Mechanical and Industrial age, poetry is very much needed so that human beings do not become extremely materialistic. According to Wordsworth, every great poet is a teacher. Poetry can refine and regenerate mankind. Poetry is the fruit and flower of human knowledge. Poetry is the image of man and nature. William Wordsworth said that every poet has a social responsibility to strengthen and promote human culture through his poetry.
Poetic Diction
The idea of poetic diction or the ‘theory of poetic diction’ by Wordsworth is the most important part of the Preface. He says that poetic style needs to be organic, it should not be prescriptive, such that there remains a correlation between language and form. He attacks the elevated language used by Augustan poets ( such as John Dryden, and Alexander Pope) because they stuck to stylistic devices and figures of speech. Most of their focus was on making their poetry sound better rather than becoming better. It should be noted that Wordsworth was not against the use of similes, metaphors, and figures of speech in a poem. But he stressed that figures of speech should be very organic to the poem. They should not be added as mere ornaments.
Secondly, Wordsworth rejected the stagnant poetic diction, both in theory and in practice. He stresses the use of the real language of men which he termed as ‘rustic language,’ language that is most natural and not artificial. According to Wordsworth, ‘elevated language’ was the language of elites, the kings and aristocrats that he rejected. The common men didn’t have access to such elevated language and thus, they were not able to connect to such poetry. Wordsworth wished to reduce this gap between the common men and poetry.
William Wordsworth considered ‘meter’ to be a superficial addition to poetry. According to him, poetic meters did not conform to the organic style of poetry. ‘Metrical composition worked like a charm only to beautify poetry.’ Wordsworth says that there cannot be any essential difference between the language of poem and prose. It may appear ironic that William Wordsworth’s magnum opus, his autobiographical work ‘The Prelude’ published in fourteen chapters is written in Blank Verse. Now Blank Verse may not involve any rhyme but it is essentially iambic pentameter.
Wordsworth also stresses word selection. According to him, a poet cannot use every word that is used in the language of men or ‘rustic language.’ A poet has to be selective and choose the words that will add to the beauty of poetry. He emphasizes the need to select certain qualifiers while advocating the use of the real language of men.
Coleridge’s criticism of Wordsworth’s Preface:
Samuel Taylor Coleridge, while collaborating with William Wordsworth on the Lyrical Ballads, offered significant critiques of Wordsworth's Preface. He criticized Wordsworth’s views in his critical work The Biographia Literaria. Wordsworth championed the use of everyday language in poetry, arguing against the artificial diction prevalent in neoclassical poetry. Coleridge, while agreeing with some aspects, believed Wordsworth's emphasis on the "language really used by men" was too restrictive and overgeneralized. He felt it didn't account for the varied uses of language and the potential of poetic diction to elevate and enhance expression. Coleridge also noted that Wordsworth's focus on common language and themes risked neglecting the role of imagination and the supernatural, elements Coleridge considered crucial to poetry. Essentially, Coleridge argued for a more nuanced approach, acknowledging the value of everyday language but not at the expense of poetic license and imaginative expression. He believed that great poetry could incorporate both common speech and elevated language, depending on the subject matter and the poet's intent.
The debate between them highlights the complexities of defining poetic language and the diverse approaches within the Romantic movement itself.
Coleridge says that Wordsworth was wrong when he said that there cannot be any difference between the language of poetry and prose. He says that in poetry words are arranged in a very different way than the arrangement in prose. For example, in prose, we can say, ‘She went to the park.’ In poetry, we can say, ‘To the park, she went.’ This should make it clear that the language of poetry is very different from that of prose.
Coleridge also suggested that Wordsworth’s theory of poetic diction is very different from Wordsworth’s own practice. He said that Wordsworth wrote in a language that is lofty, impassioned, and very sustained. It is very different from the language of common men and rustics. According to Coleridge, the language of a man varies based on his knowledge and his emotions. No two people can speak the exact, same language. Thus, Wordsworth’s insistence on using the language of real common men makes very little sense.
So this is it for today. We will continue to discuss the History of English literature. Please stay connected with the Discourse. Thanks and Regards!
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