Title: Preface to Lyrical Ballads

Subject:

Date:

<aside> 💡 Key Points:

• Main Ideas
• Key words
• Questions that connect points
• Important points

</aside>

<aside> ✏️ Notes:

Main lecture notes: (pages 35-37)

• 18th century valued order and reason, the emerging nineteenth-century worldview emphasized intuition as a proper guide to truth.
• Eighteenth-century mind likened the word to a great machine, the world was perceived as a living organism that was always growing and eternally becoming.
• The city housed the centers of art and literature and set the standards of good taste for rationalistic mind of the eighteenth century
• In contrast, nineteenth-century citizens saw rural places as fundemental, as the setting in which a person could discover the inner self. They elived that truth could be attained by tapping into the core of our hummanity or our transcendental natures, best sought in our original or natural setting.
• Wordsworth espouses a new vision of poetry and the beginnings of a radical change in literary theory.
• His purpose is to choose incidents and situations from common life and describe them in language really used by people in the situations, the manner in which we associate ideas in a state of excitement”.
• Similar to Aritotle, Sidney and Pope he concerns himself with the elements and subject matter of literature, but he changes emphasis: Common men and women rather that kings, queens and aristocrats
• Humble and rustic life the poet fins the essential passions of the heart and a better soil in which they can attain their maturity, and speak a plainer and more emphatic language.
• He suggest a radical change in subject matter and dramatical shift to focus of poetry to proper language.
• For all good poetry is the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings. He highlights poetry’s emotional quality. Imagination, not reason or disciplined thought, becomes poetry’s core.
• For Woodsworth, poet is no longer the preserver of civilized values or proper taste, but he is a man speaking to men: aman endowed with more lively sensibility, more enthusiasm and tenderness, who has a greater knowledge of human nature and a more comprehensive soul that are supposed to be common among mankind.
• The poet 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 structure of his own mind, arise in him without immediate external excitement.
• Such a poet need no longer follow prescribed set of rules because this artist may freely express his or her own individualism, valuing and writing about feelings that are peculiarly the artist’s.
• He defines poetry as the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings, taking its origin from emotion recollected in tranquility.
• New kind of poet crafts a poem by internalizing a scene, circumstance, or happening and recollects that occasion with its accompanying emotions at a later time when the artist can shape the remembrance into words.
• Poetry unlike biology or the other sciences because it deals not with something that can be dissected or broken down into its constituent parts, but primarily with the imagination and feelings. Intuition not reason, reigns
• “I have one request to make of my reader, wich is, that in judging these poems he would decide by his own feelings genuinely, and not by reflection upon what will probably be the judgement of others”
• He wants his readers to rely on their own feelings and their own imaginations because they grapple with the same emotions the poet felt when he first saw and then later “recollected in tranquility” the subject or circumstances of the poem itself. Through poetry poet and the reader share emotions.
• This subjective experience of sharing emotions leads him away from the preceding centuries’ mimetic and rhetorical theories of criticism and toward new development in literary theory.

</aside>

<aside> 📎 Summary:

A brief summary and conclusion about the notes/lecture

• The purpose of the Preface: Wordsworth explains that he wrote the Preface to defend and justify his poems, which have been criticized for being too simple and low in style and subject matter. He also hopes to provide some insight into his own poetic principles and practice. (170-171)

• The origin of the Preface: Wordsworth reveals that he originally intended to write a short advertisement for the second edition of Lyrical Ballads, but he expanded it into a longer Preface after reading some reviews of the first edition. He admits that he may have been too harsh or dogmatic in some of his opinions, and he invites the reader to judge his poems for themselves. (172-173)

• The nature of poetry: Wordsworth defines poetry as “the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings” that are recollected in tranquility and shaped by the imagination. He argues that poetry should be written in the natural language of common people, and that it should appeal to the passions and emotions of the human mind. He also claims that poetry is superior to science and philosophy, because it can reveal the essential truth and beauty of nature and human life. (174-180)

• The choice of subjects: Wordsworth defends his choice of writing about humble and rustic life, which he considers more suitable for poetry than the artificial and refined life of the city. He believes that rural people have a more direct and sincere relationship with nature, and that they express their feelings in a more natural and vivid way. He also thinks that rural life is more conducive to the moral and intellectual development of the poet, who can learn from the simplicity and wisdom of the peasants. (181-186)

• The plan of the Lyrical Ballads: Wordsworth explains that the Lyrical Ballads were composed in collaboration with his friend Samuel Coleridge, who wrote the poems of the supernatural and the imaginative, while he wrote the poems of the real and the ordinary. He says that their common purpose was to experiment with a new kind of poetry, that would combine the language of prose with the charm of verse, and that would appeal to the common reader as well as the critic. He also announces his intention to write a longer poem, The Recluse, which would be a philosophical meditation on man, nature, and society. (187)

</aside>

Sir Philip Sidney and William Wordsworth were both influential poets who wrote in defense of poetry and its role in society. However, they belonged to different literary periods and had different views on the nature, function, and style of poetry. Here are some points of comparison and contrast between them:

• Literary period: Sidney was a prominent figure of the Elizabethan age, writing in the late 16th century, while Wordsworth was a leader of the Romantic movement, writing in the late 18th and early 19th century. Sidney was influenced by the classical and Renaissance traditions of poetry, while Wordsworth was influenced by the revolutionary and naturalistic trends of his time.
• Defense of poetry: Sidney wrote An Apology for Poetry (also known as The Defence of Poesy) in response to the attacks on poetry by Stephen Gosson and other Puritan critics, who saw poetry as immoral, useless, and deceptive. Wordsworth wrote the Preface to Lyrical Ballads (later revised as the Appendix on Poetic Diction) in response to the criticism of his poems by Samuel Taylor Coleridge and other contemporary reviewers, who saw poetry as too simple, rustic, and vulgar.
• Nature of poetry: Sidney defined poetry as “an art of imitation” that uses “speaking pictures” to represent the universal and the ideal, while Wordsworth defined poetry as “the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings” that are recollected in tranquility and shaped by the imagination. Sidney followed the classical tradition of mimesis, while Wordsworth followed the romantic tradition of expressionism.
• Function of poetry: Sidney argued that poetry has three main functions: to teach, to delight, and to move. He claimed that poetry is the most effective way of conveying moral and philosophical truths, as well as providing pleasure and emotional stimulation. Wordsworth argued that poetry has one supreme function: to inspire. He claimed that poetry is the source of all knowledge, creativity, and progress, as well as the catalyst for social and political change.
• Style of poetry: Sidney advocated for a rich and varied style of poetry, that uses various forms, genres, meters, figures, and tropes. He criticized the contemporary poets for their lack of invention, skill, and decorum. He also praised the ancient and modern poets, such as Homer, Virgil, Dante, and Petrarch, for their excellence and influence. Wordsworth advocated for a simple and natural style of poetry, that uses the language of common people, especially the rural poor. He criticized the previous poets for their artificiality, obscurity, and conventionality. He also praised the poets of nature, such as John Milton, James Thomson, and Robert Burns, for their originality and sincerity.

The Evolution of Poetry: From the 18th Century to Wordsworth

The 18th century, characterized by order and reason, saw the world as a great machine. The city, housing the centers of art and literature, set the standards of good taste for the rationalistic mind of this era. However, as the 19th century emerged, a shift occurred. The worldview began to emphasize intuition as a proper guide to truth, perceiving the world as a living organism that was always growing and eternally becoming. Rural places were seen as fundamental, the setting in which a person could discover their inner self and attain truth by tapping into the core of our humanity or our transcendental natures.

This shift in perspective was reflected in the works of poets like William Wordsworth, who espoused a new vision of poetry and initiated a radical change in literary theory. Wordsworth’s purpose was to choose incidents and situations from common life and describe them in language really used by people in those situations, the manner in which we associate ideas in a state of excitement. This was a departure from the focus of poets like Aristotle, Sidney, and Pope, who concerned themselves with the elements and subject matter of literature, often focusing on kings, queens, and aristocrats. Wordsworth, on the other hand, found the essential passions of the heart in humble and rustic life, where they could attain their maturity and speak a plainer and more emphatic language.

Wordsworth suggested a radical change in subject matter and a dramatic shift in the focus of poetry to proper language. He highlighted poetry’s emotional quality, asserting that all good poetry is the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings. Imagination, not reason or disciplined thought, became poetry’s core. For Wordsworth, the poet was no longer the preserver of civilized values or proper taste, but a man speaking to men: a man endowed with more lively sensibility, more enthusiasm and tenderness, who has a greater knowledge of human nature and a more comprehensive soul than are supposed to be common among mankind.

Wordsworth defined poetry as the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings, taking its origin from emotion recollected in tranquility. A new kind of poet emerged, one who crafted a poem by internalizing a scene, circumstance, or happening and recollecting that occasion with its accompanying emotions at a later time when the artist could shape the remembrance into words. Poetry, unlike biology or the other sciences, dealt not with something that could be dissected or broken down into its constituent parts, but primarily with the imagination and feelings. Intuition, not reason, reigned.

Wordsworth made a request of his reader: that in judging his poems, the reader would decide by their own feelings genuinely, and not by reflection upon what will probably be the judgement of others. He wanted his readers to rely on their own feelings and their own imaginations because they grapple with the same emotions the poet felt when he first saw and then later “recollected in tranquility” the subject or circumstances of the poem itself. Through poetry, the poet and the reader share emotions. This subjective experience of sharing emotions led him away from the preceding centuries’ mimetic and rhetorical theories of criticism and toward new development in literary theory.

In the preface to his works, Wordsworth explained that he wrote it to defend and justify his poems, which have been criticized for being too simple and low in style and subject matter. He also hoped to provide some insight into his own poetic principles. This marked a significant shift in the evolution of poetry, from the order and reason of the 18th century to the emphasis on intuition, emotion, and the sublime in the 19th century.