Preface to Lyrical Ballads

 Bridge Course: Wordsworth's Preface to Lyrical Ballads

     This blog is in response to the Bridge course - "Wordsworth's Preface to the Lyrical Ballads" assigned by Dr. Dilip Barad sir. In this blog I am going to deal with the important points of the Preface to Lyrical Ballads and will also try to explain my understanding of it.

       Romantic movement began in England with the Publication of Lyrical Ballads in 1798 by William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge. It also marks the ending of the Neo-Classical age, in which poets and writers used to follow classical writers and their way of writing. So after the publication of Lyrical Ballads, there was new enthusiasm and ways of writing. For this reason, we first have to understand the difference between Classicism and Romanticism.

Difference between "Classicism" and "Romanticism"

        To understand the difference between Classicism and Romanticism, we first have to understand both terms. Classicism and Romanticism are opposing movements and  styles which influenced all the major arts like Architecture, Painting, Music and Literature. Both have different ways of looking and thus different ideologies. In Classicism, Intellect is the Guiding force, While in Romanticism Imagination is the guiding force. In Classicism there were certain restraints but in Romanticism there was Liberty, Freedom and free play of emotions and feelings.

Classicism defines beauty which demonstrates balance and order, as it originates in the Greek and Roman societies. Romanticism developed in the 18th century partially as a reaction against the ideas of classicism and expresses beauty through imagination and powerful emotions. The name "Classical" was given to the Greeks and Romans retroactively by Renaissance writers. Artists and thinkers of The Renaissance which literally means, 'rebirth' saw themselves as the heirs of that world following in the middle ages. Its ideals continued to exert strong influence into the Age of Enlightenment in the 17th and 18th centuries. But after the publication of Lyrical Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, the influence of classical ended, and there we find the emergence of the Romantic movement.

The French revolution had a deep influence on Romanticism and Wordsworth and thus imitated them for their writings. This led to the "Liberalism in literature". The political liberalism of the French revolution inspired the liberation of individuality and rejection of prescribed rules in Romantic literature. Romantic poets were inspired by the ideals of equality, fraternity and liberty which were the three watch words of the French revolution.

      

             

       

Lyrical Ballads:-

    Lyrical is a collection of poems. It was first published in 1798 by William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge. It marks the beginning of the Romantic movement.

     In the year 1800, two years after publication of Lyrical Ballads, the second edition was published. For this edition William Wordsworth composed an essay, named The Preface to the Lyrical Ballads, which was expanded by him in the third edition in 1802. In the beginning of this preface to Lyrical Ballads, William Wordsworth explains the purpose behind the collection of poems: it was an "experiment" to determine whether poetry written in 'the real language of men' could be successful. Wordsworth readily admits that the poetry in this collection might not be viewed as poetry at all, because it is so vastly different from what readers have come to expect from poetry. In preface, he gives definition of poetry as,

"Spontaneous overflow of Powerful feelings; it takes its origin from emotion recollected in Tranquility."

In this he also gives an explanation of various features like,

• What is Poet?
• What is Poetry?
• Subject and Theme of Poetry
• Poetics diction
• Function of poetry
• Language of poetry 

What is Poet?

Why Wordsworth say 'What' is poet Rather than Who is poet.

      In his preface Wordsworth says 'What' is poet? rather than Who is poet. To justify his argument he gives the definition of What is poet.

"A poet is a man speaking to men, endowed with more enthusiasm and tenderness, who has a greater knowledge of Human nature, and a more comprehensive soul, who rejoices, more than other men in the spirit of life; habitually impelled to creative volitions, passions and situations where he does not find them."

By the definition of William Wordsworth of What is poet, we can find certain points.

1. A man endowed with more enthusiasm and tenderness

2. Greater knowledge of Human nature

3. A more comprehensive soul

4. Different in spirit than other man

5. He is habitually more creative than other men. 

All of the above mentioned points suggest that a poet is more imaginative, comprehensive, enthusiastic and imaginative person, and these are the points which differentiate a poet and common man. 

By this definition Wordsworth presents that the poet is very different from other human being as 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.

What is poetic diction? Which sort of poetic diction is suggested by Wordsworth in his Preface?

In the third edition of Lyrical Ballads published in 1802, he elaborately explained his theory of poetic diction. He was highly against sophisticated language of the 18th century and that's why he gave rustic colours to the poetic diction. While writing about Poetic Diction, He states that,

"The majority of the following poems are to be considered as experiments. They were 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 purpose of poetic pleasure." 

Poetic diction generally means "Choice of Words". There are so many controversial aspects of Wordsworth's Poetic diction.

      He rejects classical belief that poetry should be evaluated and composed in a formal style. As a result of which he presents rural life- the lives of ordinary men and women, farmers. He used the language which is used by common man. There is no high  poetic diction. Wordsworth gives 3 principles for the explanation of Poetic diction to justify his arguments, which are..

1. The language of poetry should be the language ‘really used by men’, but it should be a ‘selection’ of such language. All the words used by the people cannot be employed in poetry. It should be filtered and refined. The refined vernacular words should be the diction of poetry.

2. It should be the language of men in a state of vivid sensation. It should have a certain colouring of imagination. The poet should give the colour of his imagination to the language employed by him in poetic composition. 

3. There is no ‘essential’ difference between the words used in prose and in metrical composition. Wordsworth means if the words in conversation are properly selected, it would provide the rough framework of the language of poetry, which is heightened by feeling and emotion. Through the power of imagination the poet can select words fit for poetic composition. When the poet is truly inspired, his imagination will enable him to select from the language really used by men.  

In Biographia Literaria (1817), S. T. Coleridge shows strong disagreement to Wordsworth's Poetic Diction, he asks Wordsworth what does mean by language "really used by men." The controversy of Wordsworth's poetic diction is that he himself does not adhere to that kind of Diction in his own poems. In his disagreement to Wordsworth's poetic diction, he selects one of Wordsworth's poems named 'Michael', as per Coleridge it does not depict common man life rather it is an exceptional one.

What is Poetry?

Discuss 'Daffodils- wandered as a lonely cloud ' with reference to Wordsworth's poetic creed.

The Romantic age is dominated by the genre Poetry. After Dryden, Wordsworth offered the definition of poetry. In the Preface he gives the definition of Poetry.

"Poetry is a spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings, it takes its origin from emotions recollected in tranquility."

          The definition shows that poetry is something which spontaneously flows the feelings and emotions, which are there in the imagination of the poet. It means first feelings and emotions are captured by a poet. After that when he writes  a poem he recollects those feelings and emotions. Poetry has its origin in the internal feelings of the poet. It is a matter of passion, mood and temperament. Poetry cannot be produced by strictly adhering to the rules laid down by the Classicists. To understand his idea of poetry we have to look at an example. One of his poem daffodils is an excellent example which is truly fitted to his definition of poetry.

               The poem 'Daffodils' is also known by its first line 'I wandered as lonely Cloud'. It is a lyrical poem, published in 1807. The poem contains Four stanzas. First Three stanzas are in Past tense and the last stanza is in present tense. The poem begins with,

"I wandered as a lonely cloud

That floats on high o'er vales and hills,"

      We can find that the first line is in the past tense. Further two stanzas are also in past tense. Which shows that the poet is sharing something that took place in the past, but if we move towards the last stanza the poet uses the present tense.

"For oft, when on my couch I lie

In vacant or in pensive mood"

        In the last Stanza, the poet comes to the present. If we observe the poem, we can find that the poet is presenting his thoughts and feelings while lying on the couch and recollecting his nature walk, as he is a Lake poet- who writes while having walk through the Lake. So in vacant time he recollects his emotions and feelings about Daffodils. According to his definition of poetry, it is spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings, which took place by recollected tranquility. By the observation of the poem, we can find that this poem clearly justifies his definition of poetry.

To conclude, Wordsworth in his Preface to Lyrical Ballads gives understanding of major aspects of poetry including poet. In the second edition, he  tries to remove misconceptions towards his theory of poetry. We can say that by this explanation he emphasizes the real source of inspiration which is Nature.

To get further information of the Preface to Lyrical Ballads Click Here or Here

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