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Wordsworth'sPrefacetoLyricalBalladsasa Search
manifestoofRomanticMovement

Wordsworths 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 neoclassical 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,hetellsusabouttheformandcontentsofthisnewtypeofpoetry.

Wordsworth, in the beginning, states the necessity of bringing about a revolution in the
realm of poetry as the Augustan poetry has become clich. 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
hesuggestsanewlanguageforRomanticpoetry.Thisiswhyhesuggestsanewlanguage

forRomanticpoetry.TheseattemptchieflydealswithWordsworthsviewsofpoetry.

Wordsworth thinks that poetry is the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings. To him,

theintensityoffeelingsismoreimportantthantheform.

Tomakepoetrylifelike,hewantstousethelanguageofcommonpeopleasthecommon

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
untilitisreadyforuse. Adsby Google

Analysis
Wordsworth seems to contradict his own views as he prefers a selection to the original
Manifesto
languagespokenbytherusticpeople.

Adsby Google
T. S. Eliot, in his The Use of Poetry and the Use of Criticism, objects to Wordsworths
WilliamWordsworth
view.Eliottellsthatapoetshouldnotimitatethelanguageofaparticularclassbecausehe

oughttohavealanguageofhisown.EliotsviewgainsgroundasWordsworthinhislater Poems
poems,failstousehisprescribedlanguage.Hisdictionis,infactpeculiartohim.
CATEGORIES

ButWordsworthsdefinitionsofpoetryadthepoetareunique.Hemaintainsthatpoetryis AFarewelltoArms(1)
morephilosophicalthananyotherbranchofknowledge.Helikesthepoettoaprophetwho AbsurdDrama(4)

isendowedwithagreaterknowledgeoflifeandnature. AfricanLiterature(11)
Agamemnon(2)
AghaShahidAli(1)
Theneoclassicalpoetsconsidertheprovinceofpoetrytobetheworldoffictions.Butfor
AmericanLiterature(29)
Wordsworth the province of poetry is the world of truth, not a world of makebelieve.
AmitavGhosh(4)
Wordsworth like Samuel Johnson believes that only the manifestations of general truth Aristotle(6)
can please all people. That is why he rejects the hackneyed poetic style of the Augustan Arnold(5)
period. BengaliLiterature(4)
BritishFiction(20)

Wordsworth differs with the neoclassical writers in his belief about the process of poetry. CharlesDickens(8)
Chaucer(1)
Theneoclassicalwritersthinkthatthepoetsmindisasensitivebutpassiverecorderofa
naturalphenomenon.ButWordsworthstronglyopposesthisviewandthinksthatthemind Chomsky(11)

of the poet is never a passive recorder. In his view, the poets mind half creates the Classics(12)
ClearLightoftheDay(1)
external world which he perceives. The external world is thus, in some degree, the very
CottonMather(1)
creationofhumanmind.Wordsworthseemstoestablishthefactthatthepoetsmindand
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the external nature are both interlinked and interdependent. Wordsworth unlike the
DerekWalcott(3)
classicistscannotseparatethemindwhichsuffersfromthemindwhichcomposes. Derrida(1)
Descartes(1)
Wordsworth points out the common characteristics of both poetry and science. But he Dr.SamuelJohnson(7)
places poetry over science for the fact that the large part of poetry is based on EdwardSaid(1)

imagination. He beautifully discovers that science only appeal to intellect while poetry ElaineShowalter(1)
ELT(16)
appealstoheart.Forthis,thepleasuresofsciencearesharedbyfewwhilethepleasures
ELTTermsDifined(20)
ofpoetryareopentoall.Againthetruthofscienceissubjecttochangewhilepoetrydoes
EmilyBronte(6)
notsufferfromsuchthreat.
EnglishHistory(9)
EnglishLanguage(2)
Wordsworthbreakswiththeclassicaltheoryofpoetrywhenheadvocatesfortheintensity EnglishLiterature(2)
ofemotion.Tohim,reasonisnotatallimportant.Thisisasubjectiveview. GreatExpectations(7)
GreekLiterature(7)

ItcannotbesaidthatWordsworthisabsolutelyrightinhistheoryofpoetry.Butitmustbe Hamlet(5)
HeartofDarkness(2)
recognizedthathisviewsareinnovativeandcreative.
HistoryofEnglishLanguage(15)
HistoryofEnglishliterature(9)
His rejection of classical doctrines leads to the creation of a new type of poetry which
Homer(2)
prefershimemotionstoreason.Asaresultagroupoftalentedpoetshasemergedinthe IndianLiterature(17)
province of English poetry. At the same time, he has contributed to the field of literary IndianPoetryinEnglish(22)
criticism. If Blake is considered to be the precursor of romantic poetry, Wordsworth and IrishLiterature(4)

Coleridgearethetwoearlyexponentsofromanticpoetry.AnditiswiseofWordsworthto JohnDonne(2)
JohnKeats(4)
formagroundforthisnewpoetrythroughthePrefacetotheLyricalBallads.
JohnLocke(2)
Kafka(1)
KamalaDas(16)
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Labels:LiteraryCriticism,Wordsworth
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