2. William Wordsworth (1770-1850)
• -wrote Preface to Lyrical Ballads (1800 & 1802)
• Essay upon Epitaphs (1810)
• Prefaces to the Excursion (1814)
• Poems (1815)
• Preface to Lyrical Ballads-most vital essay
3. Preface to Lyrical Ballads
• -most authentic expression of the ideals of the
romantic movement.
• Written in 1800 and rewritten in 1802.
• Not perfectly organised as a piece of literary
theory.
• Speak as a representative of the common man
speaking to his fellow men.
• Declared that kings and countrymen need not be
the subject of all poetry and poets need not
have to keep a decorum.
4. Wordworth’s declaration..
• The principal object, then, proposed in these Poems was to choose incidents
and situations from common life, and to relate or describe them, throughout,
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 ordinary things should be presented to the mind in an unusual aspect;
and, further, and above all, to make these incidents and situations interesting
by tracing in them, truly though not ostentatiously, the primary laws of our
nature: chiefly, as far as regards the manner in which we associate ideas in a
state of excitement.
5. Views...
• He pleads for the retention of the common
language in poetry.
• Says that poetry should deal with the “essential
passions of the heart”
• He was of the view that the common man
constantly communicate with the best part of
the universe from which the best language
originates.
6. Characterisation of a good poet..
• Not just another human being but is an
uncommon man gifted in many ways and thus in
some sense superior to the common folk.
• Not a presenter of facts but gives immediate
pleasure to the reader.
• Not an intellectual activity but a powerful and
spontaneous overflow of emotions.
7.
8. What differentiates a poetry and
prose
• Poetic communication happens in the higher
realm of emotions beyond facts and
informations.
• Language and order of words are similar in prose
and poem but use of metre intensifies the
emotions and feelings by adding charm to it.
9. • Wordsworth inspired the use of ordinary subjects
and ordinary language in poetry
• He was the first critic to talk about poetic
composition or language.
• He aggressively defends his own creation in his
critical piece.
10. • Literary criticism of Wordsworth was a manifesto
of the British Romantic movement.
• He views poetry as close to the religious insight
in the life of things.
• His criticism is rich in suggestions and personal
insights.
• Shifted emphasis from reader to poem into
relaionship between the poet and the poem.
