ENGLISH ROMANTICISM William Wordsworth
William Wordsworth	Lake District	Lake District

"PREFACE" TO
LYRICAL BALLADS

The collection Lyrical Ballads with a Few Other Poems has become one of the constant reference points of English Romantic literature. The idea conceived by Coleridge and Wordsworth was prompted by their shared sense of the emotional artificiality of the eighteenth-century poetry and its conventions. The first edition of the book contained 23 anonymous poems, only four were by Coleridge: "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner", "The Nightingle", "The Foster-Mother's Tale," and "The Dungeon". Wordsworth contributed ballads, songs and narratives, such as: Goody Blake and Harry Gill, The Idiot Boy, as well as lyrical and personal poems: Lines Written in Early Spring, and Lines Composed a Few Miles above Tintern Abbey.
In the "Advertisement" to the single volume edition of 1798 Wordsworth asserted that the majority of the poems were "to be considered as experiments ... written chiefly with a view to ascertain how far the language of conversation in the middle and lower classes of society is adapted to the purposes of poetic pleasure."
The second edition of 1800 in two volumes included a further poem by Coleridge, "Love"; the second vol-ume consisted entirely of Wordsworth's own new poems. Wordsworth claimed effective sole authorship. He added the long new "Preface", the celebrated document in which he expounds his ideas on poetic diction and the origin of poetry in "emotion recollected in tranquillity", and poems such as the "Lucy Poems", "The Old Cumberland Beggar", and "Michael, a Pastoral Poem." The "Preface"deserves its reputation as a revolutionary manifesto about the nature of poetry. In his "poetic theory" "Wordsworth claims that in the pleasure afforded by the aesthetic aspect of poetry there is a profound fidelity to the human experience of the world; in other words, something like a lyrical ballad, an image of ordinary, troubled humanity cast into rhythm and rhyme, cap-tures the quality of our response to life."
The edition of 1802 was considerably enlarged, and in this form was reprinted in 1805. Coleridge became dissatisfied with some ideas of Wordsworth's poetic theory and explicitly distanced himself in Biographia Literaria. The excerpts from Wordsworth's "Preface" selected below, present the author's most known views on poetry.

THE SUBJECT AND LANGUAGE OF POETRY

The principal object, then, which I proposed to myself in these Poems was to choose incidents and situa-tions from common life, and to relate or describe them throughout,(1) 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 (2) ordinary things should be presented to the mind in an unusual way; and further, and above all, to make these incidents and situations interesting by tracing (3) in them, truly though not ostentatiously, (4) the primary (5) laws of our nature - chiefly, (6) as far as regards the manner in which we associate ideas in a state of excitement.(7) Low (8) and rustic life was generally chosen, because in that condition the essential passions of the heart find a better soil in which they can attain (9) their maturity, are less under restraint, (10) and speak a plainer and more emphatic (11) language; 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 (12) communicated; because the manners (13) of rural life germinate (14) from those elementary feelings and, from the necessary (15) character of rural occupations, are more easily comprehended,(16) and are more durable; and lastly, because in that condition the passions of men are incorporated (17) with the beautiful and permanent forms of nature.(18) The language, (19) too, of these men is adopted (purified indeed from what appear to be its real defects, from all lasting and rational causes of dislike or disgust) because such men hourly (20) commu-nicate with the best objects from which the best part of language is originally derived; and because, from their rank in society and the sameness (21) and narrow circle of their intercourse, (22) being less under the influence of social vanity they convey their feelings and notions in simple and unelaborated expressions. Accordingly, (23) such a language, arising out of repeated experience and regular feelings, is a more permanent, and a far more philosophical (24) language, than that which is frequently substituted for it by Poets, who think that they are conferring honour upon themselves and their art, in proportion as they separate themselves from the sympathies of men, and indulge in arbitrary and capricious habits of expression, in order to furnish food or fickle (25) tastes, and fickle appetites, (26) of their own creation.
I cannot, however, be insensible of the present outcry (27) against the triviality and meanness (28) both of thought and language, which some of my contemporaries have occasionally introduced into their metrical com-positions; and I acknowledge that this defect, where it exists, is more dishonourable to the Writer's own charac-ter (29) than false refinement or arbitrary innovation, though I should contend at the same time that it is far less pernicious in the sum of its consequences. From such verses the Poems in these volumes will be found distin-guished at least by one mark of difference, that each of them has a worthy (30) purpose. Not that I mean to say, that I always began to write with a distinct purpose formally conceived; but I believe that my habits of meditation have so formed my feelings, as that my descriptions of such objects as strongly excite those feelings, will be found to carry along with them a purpose. If in this opinion I am mistaken, I can have litle right to the name of a Poet. For all good Poetry is the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings; (31) but though this be true, Poems to which any value can be attached were never produced on any variety of subjects but by a man who, being possessed of more than usual organic (32) sensibility, had also thought long and deeply.

[...]

The Reader will find that personifications of abstract ideas rarely occur in these volumes and, I hope, are ut-terly (33) rejected as an ordinary device to elevate the style, and raise it above Prose. I have proposed to myself to imitate and, as far as is possible, to adopt the very language of men; and assuredly (34) such personifications do not make any natural or regular part of the language. They are, indeed, a figure of speech occasionally prompted (35) by passion, and I have made use of them as such; but I have endeavoured (36) utterly to reject them as a mechanical device of style, or as a family language which Writers in metre seem to lay claim to by prescription. [...] There will also be found in these volumes little of what usually called poetic diction;(37) I have taken as much pains to avoid it as others ordinarily take to produce it; this I have done for the reason al-ready alleged,(38) to bring my language near to the language of men, and further, because the pleasure which I have proposed to myself to impart (39) is of a kind very different from that which is supposed by many persons to be the proper object of Poetry.

[...]

Taking up the subject, then, upon general grounds, I ask what is meant by the word Poet? 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, endued (40) 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; a man pleased with his own passions and volitions, (41) and who rejoices more than other men in the spirit of life that is in him; delighting to contemplate similar volitions and passions as manifested in the goings-on (42) of the universe, and habitually impelled (43) to create them where he does not find them. To these qualities he has added a disposition to be affected more than other men by absent things as if they were present, an ability of conjuring up (44) in himself passions, which are indeed far from being the same as those produced by real events, yet (especially in those parts of the general sympathy (45) which are pleasing and delightful) do more nearly resemble the passions produced by real events, than any thing which, from the motions of their own minds merely, other men are accustomed to feel in themselves; whence, (46) and from practice, he has acquired a greater readiness and power in expressing what he thinks and feels, and especially those thoughts and feelings which, by his own choice, or from the structure of his own mind, arise in him without immediate external excitement. (47) [...] What then does the Poet? He considers man and the objects that surround him as acting and re-acting upon each other, so as to produce an infinite complexity of pain and pleasure; he considers man in his own nature and in his ordinary life as contemplating this with a certain quantity of immediate knowledge, with certain convictions, intuitions, and deductions which by habit become of the nature of intuitions; he considers him as looking upon this complex scene of ideas and sensations, and finding everywhere objects that immedi-ately excite in him sympathies which, from the necessities of his nature, are accompanied by an overbalance (48) of enjoyment.
To this knowledge which all men carry about with them, and to these sympathies in which without any other discipline than that of our daily life we are fitted (49) to take delight, the Poet principally directs his attention. He 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 in nature.

[...]

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 gradualy disappears, and an emotion, kindred (50) to that which was before the subject of contemplation, is gradually produced, and does itself actually exist in the mind. In this mood successful composition generally begins, and in a mood similar to this it is carried on; but the emotion, of whatever kind and in whatever degree, from various causes is qualified by various pleasures, so that in describing any passions whatsoever, which are voluntarily (51) described, the mind will upon the whole be in a state of enjoyment. Now, if Nature be (52) thus cautious in preserving in a state of enjoyment a being thus employed, the Poet ought to profit by the lesson thus held forth (53) to him, and ought especially to take care that, whatever passions he communicates to his Reader, those passions, if his Reader's mind be sound and vigorous, should always be accompanied with an overbalance of pleasure.(54)

(William Wordsworth, "Preface" to Lyrical Ballads (1802).

Notes:

1. throughout: in every part, fully, in detail.
2. whereby: by which means.
3. tracing: finding, discovering the origins.
4. ostentatiously: too emphatically, in an unnecessarily showy manner.
5. primary: of the first importance, fundamental, basic.
6. chiefly: above all.
7. excitement: emotional arousal.
8. low: poor, humble.
9. attain: reach.
10. less under restraint: less controlled.
11. emphatic: passionate.
12. more forcibly: more convincingly, or effectively.
13. manners: customary modes of behaviour.
14. germinate: originate.
15. necessary: serving practical needs.
16. comprehended: understood.
17. incorporated with: embodied, indistingushable from.
18. Nature: the physical power causing all the phenomena of the material world.
19. the language: it is usually taken to be a description of the general idiom of the poems, but it also mean the speech, as well as the feelings and behaviour of rural individuals.
20. hourly: frequently, continually.
21. sameness: routine, uniformity, monotony, unchanging.
22. intercourse: communication, relationship with other persons.
23. accordingly: consequently, therefore.
24. philosophical: wise.
25. fickle: inconstant, changeable.
26. appetites: desires, passions, inclinations.
27. outcry: a vehement public protest.
28. meanness: ignobility.
29. character: reputation.
30. worthy: deserving respect for their value or worth.
31. recollected in tranquillity: remembered in moments of quietness.
32. organic: pertaining to the organs of sense.
33. utterly: completely, totally.
34. assuredly: certainly.
35. prompted: urged.
36. endeavoured: tried.
37. diction: the choice of words or phrases in speech or writing.
38. alleged: declared, stated.
39. impart communicate.
40. endued: endowed, provided.
41. volitions: wishes, desires.
42. goings-on: behaviour.
43. impelled: driven, forced.
44. conjuring up: evoking, recalling.
45. sympathy: the act of sharing or tendency to share in an emotion or sensation or condition of another per-son or thing.
46. whence: from which.
47. external excitement: external emotional arousal.
48. overbalance: an excess.
49. fitted: provided with.
50. kindred: of the same nature as, analogous, similar.
51. voluntarily: freely, spontaneously.
52. be: is.
53. held forth: proposed.
54. overbalance of pleasure: an excess of pleasure.

ANALYSIS

1. In these extracts, taken from the "Preface" to Lyrical Ballads, Wordsworth explains the reasons why he wrote in verse, why he chose subjects from common life, and "endeavoured" to bring his language near to the real language of men. Read the whole text in detail and identify the lines dealing with the various topics, such as:

2. Sum up the main points and topics dealt with by Wordsworth; fill in the table given below.