Wordsworth's Preface To Lyrical Ballads

This post is in reference to the questions asked here: http://dilipbarad.blogspot.com/2014/09/short-learning-video-on-wordsworths.html

The publication of Lyrical Ballads, in 1798, marked a new beginning in the literary theory and criticism. The efforts for a Romantic revival were ongoing way before Wordsworth and Coleridge's contribution. However, we can say that their work marks the climax of the Romantic age. Just as any new literary theory, Romanticism was also met with a lot of censure from critics, so much so that Wordsworth's poems were often considered 'silly' and 'childish' things, composed of 'meanness of language and inanity of thought' as Coleridge mentions later in his Biographia Literaria. It was because of this reason that Wordsworth tried to defend his creed in the Preface to the second edition of Lyrical Ballads in 1801.

Romanticism began as a reaction against the earlier Enlightenment ( Neo Classical) ideology of using classical structures and frameworks for writing literature. In an attempt to follow the ancient masters, the writers of those ages forgot to look within themselves. The spread of too much of morality and scholarly disposition, lead poets like Wordsworth to say," Up, up, my Friend and quit your books". Instead of the Enlightenment emphasis on intellect, objectivity and scholarship, the Romantics emphasized, subjectivity, individualism and emotion. Hence, we can say that the basic difference between Classicism and Romanticism is not just about the way of writing, but also about two different perspectives towards life.

The description of a poet by Wordsworth, is something which places his ideas in an ambiguous state.  In my opinion, the reason for asking and answering what is a poet, instead of who is a poet, is to raise the poet's intellectual level a bit higher than normal human beings. Though Wordsworth asserts that poet is a 'man speaking to men', he is someone endowed with higher intellectual capabilities as well as higher emotional disposition. Thus, a poet is in a way an entity, and not specifically a person, which is higher than the normal human experience.

Poetic diction is generally defined as language specific to poetry, also including the various uses of this language. We can also say that since diction literally means 'choice of words', poetic diction means, choosing words for the purpose of writing poetry. Now, this leads to another inference that the writing of poetry involves  choosing specific words from the already existing natural language spoken by common people. Again something which contrasts with Wordsworth's idea of poetic diction, where he says that the language of poetry should be the 'language really used by men', suggested in his Preface.

Poets define poetry, based on their poetic creed, one of the many reasons for their being no specific definition of poetry, in my opinion. Since we are discussing about Wordsworth's Preface, let's take his definition of poetry into consideration. He describes poetry as the 'spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings recollected in tranquility.' Whether Wordsworth followed his own definition or not has been an unsolved matter since the Romantic Revival. But, one thing can be said for sure that, his definition can be studied in contradictions. For example, the contradiction between 'spontaneity' and 'tranquility'.

As is already discussed in the video, Daffodils can be considered the best example for explaining Wordsworth's definition of poetry. The poem as an example of Wordsworth's poetic creed, can be analyzed through the its portrayal of natural phenomena and the effects it has on the poet's mind. A common Romantic practice of bringing one's self closer to nature. The comparison of the poet's wandering lonely self with a cloud, the subjectivity of the Romantics portrayed by the recurrent 'I' can be considered two of the many references to Wordsworth's poetic creed made in the poem.