Wordsworth’s
Preface to the Lyrical Ballads declares the dawn of English Romantic
Movement. Wordsworth and Coleridge, with the publication of the Lyrical
Ballads, break away with the neo-classical tendencies in poetry. As the reading
people are not familiar with his new type of poetry, Wordsworth puts forward a
preface to this book. In this preface, he tells us about the form and contents
of this new type of poetry.
Wordsworth,
in the beginning, states the necessity of bringing about a revolution in the
realm of poetry as the Augustan poetry has become cliché. He painfully notices
that the Eighteenth century poets have separated poetry from the grasp of
common people. He resolves to liberate this poetry from the shackles of so-
called classical doctrines. He, in collaboration with his friend Coleridge,
begins to write poem for the people of all classes. Wordsworth thinks that the
language of the Augustan poetry is highly artificial and sophisticated. That is
why he suggests a new language for Romantic poetry. This is why he suggests a
new language for Romantic poetry. This is why he suggests a new language for
Romantic poetry. These attempt chiefly deals with Wordsworth’s views of poetry.
Wordsworth
thinks that poetry is the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings. To him,
the intensity of feelings is more important than the form.
To
make poetry life like, he wants to use the language of common people as the
common people express their feeling unfeignedly. But he tells about a
selection, because common people use gross and unrefined language. So, he will
purify the language of rustic people until it is ready for use.
Wordsworth
seems to contradict his own views as he prefers a selection to the original
language spoken by the rustic people.
T.
S. Eliot, in his The Use of Poetry and the Use of Criticism, objects to
Wordsworth’s view. Eliot tells that a poet should not imitate the language of a
particular class because he ought to have a language of his own. Eliot’s view
gains ground as Wordsworth in his later poems, fails to use his prescribed
language. His diction is, in fact peculiar to him.
But
Wordsworth’s definitions of poetry ad the poet are unique. He maintains that
poetry is more philosophical than any other branch of knowledge. He likes the
poet to a prophet who is endowed with a greater knowledge of life and nature.
The
neo-classical poets consider the province of poetry to be the world of
fictions. But for Wordsworth the province of poetry is the world of truth, not
a world of make-believe. Wordsworth like Samuel Johnson believes that only “the
manifestations of general truth” can please all people. That is why he rejects
the hackneyed poetic style of the Augustan period.
Wordsworth
differs with the neo-classical writers in his belief about the process of
poetry. The neo-classical writers think that the poet’s mind is a sensitive but
passive recorder of a natural phenomenon. But Wordsworth strongly opposes this
view and thinks that the mind of the poet is never a passive recorder. In his
view, the poet’s mind half creates the external world which he perceives. The
external world is thus, in some degree, the very creation of human mind.
Wordsworth seems to establish the fact that the poet’s mind and the external
nature are both interlinked and interdependent. Wordsworth unlike the
classicists can not separate the mind which suffers from the mind which
composes.
Wordsworth
points out the common characteristics of both poetry and science. But he places
poetry over science for the fact that the large part of poetry is based on
imagination. He beautifully discovers that science only appeal to intellect
while poetry appeals to heart. For this, the pleasures of science are shared by
few while the pleasures of poetry are open to all. Again the truth of science
is subject to change while poetry does not suffer from such threat.
Wordsworth
breaks with the classical theory of poetry when he advocates for the intensity
of emotion. To him, reason is not at all important. This is a subjective view.
It
cannot be said that Wordsworth is absolutely right in his theory of poetry. But
it must be recognized that his views are innovative and creative.
His
rejection of classical doctrines leads to the creation of a new type of poetry
which prefers him emotions to reason. As a result a group of talented poet’s
has emerged in the province of English poetry. At the same time, he has
contributed to the field of literary criticism. If Blake is considered to be
the precursor of romantic poetry, Wordsworth and Coleridge are the two early
exponents of romantic poetry. And it is wise of Wordsworth to form a ground for
this new poetry through the Preface to the Lyrical Ballads.